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DIAMOND
Of all
precious stones, the diamond is supreme, not alone for its inherent
qualities, but for the fascination it has for all people.
The
shifting steps in the path of the sun across the sea to a far-off
horizon; the limpid light of dew-drops among the grasses of the valley;
the dance of moonbeams over crusted snows, or the shimmer of frosted
trees under a cloudless sky, are all caught and fixed, for our
enjoyment at will, in the diamond. No flight of imagination dreaming
could gather material for a fairy-tale equal to that which science has
constructed in its patient researches into the nature and antecedents
of this gem. With every breath a man exhales there passes into the
atmosphere the only thing a diamond yields when it disappears under the
fierce heat of the laboratory,—dioxide of carbon, or carbonic acid. How
nature transformed this colorless gas into the hard and beautiful
stone has long puzzled investigators. Scientists have experimented for
years to find out how the metamorphosis was accomplished.
Although
many things connected with the process are still matters of conjecture,
it has been established beyond doubt that the diamond is composed of
pure carbon. When burned with a free supply of oxygen, it is completely
converted into carbon dioxide.. It is worthy of note that the two most
precious stones are composed of the most common elements, and are the
least complex of all. The diamond is pure carbon ; the ruby is pure
alumina.
If a diamond is subjected to intense heat in a vessel from which the air has been exhausted, although it cannot be
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