said
the Lecturer, " cannot be distinguished from natural Rubies by any of
the known tests. They possess the specific gravity, the refraction,
and the double refraction of the natural stone ; and in the
Polari-scope they show the same uni-axal interference figure."
"
Other Minerals have been likewise constituted by artificial means.
Turquoise has been successfully made by compressing powdery artificial
Phosphate of Aluminium into a compact mass : and the only respect in
which it (and the others described above) differ from the natural
stones is, that they have been formed by a different process." " These
daring, unabashed men of science," comments a leading writer, " can
now-a-days, and do, manufacture Stones, however trivial in size, and
value, which are no mere imitations of the veritable treasures of the
Mine, but rather the Gem itself, the authentic handiwork of the
Creator, parodied, plagiarised, and vulgarised by venturesome man !" "
Who is to say they will never go further % Who can safely
predict that, since they can certainly produce, and submit to every
imaginable analytical test, these tiny specimens which are so perfect,
they may not eventually turn out Rubies as big as raspberries, and
Diamonds as large as ten, or a dozen Koh-i-noors crystallised into one
1 "
Further
(we reply) they perhaps may go in these spiritless materialistic
proceedings; but the innate virtues, and intrinsic mystic worth of true
Precious Stones have been altogether overlooked by them, and
disregarded.
Neither
the merely mechanical results vaunted by Professor Miers, nor the
flippant, well-nigh profane, inferences of his would-be humorous
commentator,
