It is recorded by the Prophet Jeremiah that the sin of Judah
is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond.
Whatever this stone may have been, it was mounted, like the
diamond of the present day, in iron tools for engraving. The
prophet's pen may not inaptly be regarded as a type of our
modern so-called diamond-tipped pens. Manlius, in the first
century of our era, is supposed to be the earliest writer who
definitely mentions the true diamond so as to leave no doubt
about its identity.
Constituent.—The diamond is pure crystallized carbon, the
"highest development of a physical substance from a simple
element." There is only one other mineral of the same nature,
and classed in the same group ; the ruby, the sapphire, or the
emerald, it might be supposed, is alone worthy a place beside
this unrivalled gem. Every one has noticed the black, sooty,
greasy-like substance called graphite, used for stove-polish ; this
unattractive substance is the twin brother of the diaphanous,
sparkling gem we call the diamond. Yet no two objects could
be more unlike in appearance. Or, if one is not quite assured
of the vegetable origin of graphite, let him take a piece of
charcoal and notice how soft and lustreless it is, how easily
it crumbles, leaving its darkened trace upon everything it
touches, and then compare it with the brilliant glittering upon
his finger, so hard, and pure, and transparent ; are they much
alike? yet both are composed of the same element — carbon.
Lavoisier was the first to establish the real nature of its
constituent, by burning a diamond.
Origin. — The origin of the diamond has been a fruitful
topic for speculation among scientists, hence many contradictory theories have been advanced and argued with some show
of reason ; but after all that has been said and written on the
subject, we are still left pretty much in the dark. Theories
