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SUPERSTITIONS AND RELIGIOUS USES
these
treasures immemorial, as we ponder upon the eons of repose which they
enjoyed in their prehistoric cradle, the bosom of old mother earth,
rocked by her convulsions and lulled by her deluges, with earthquakes
for a lullaby and eternity for a lifetime? To speak of more trifling
matters, even the early laces, china, etc., which it is now the
fashion to rescue from oblivion and somewhat ostentatiously display,
have their value as historical records and indications. Believing as I
do, that the background of history forms a most important part of all
present truth, I handle these portraits of the great originals with the
deepest invicissitudes with a student's reverence."*
The
preciousness of diamonds has long made their theft one of the most
frequent motifs in mystery or "detective" fiction; almost any one can
cite examples. But probably one of the most striking of all stories of
the general type is The Diamond Lens by Fitz-O'Brien (1858).
After a history of theft and murder a beautiful one hundred forty carat
diamond, the Eye of Morning, is submitted to an "electromagnetic
current" for a long time in order that its atoms may be indefinably
rearranged. It is then by drilling and cutting made into the lens of a
wonderful microscope so powerful that its pseudo-scientist owner
discovers a whole new world in a drop of water and falls in love with a
marvelously beautiful woman who lives in that world.
A
glance at any book of literary quotations—Bartlett's, for example—will
disclose that the diamond, and other precious stones are used
frequently and effectively in liter-
1 Anagnos, J. R., A brief account of the most celebrated diamonds, p. 7.
J9
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