It
is obvious from the foregoing remarks upon various experiments and
their results that the Diamond market is not likely to be threatened in
the near future by their wholesale and retail manufacture in the
chemical laboratory.
Many
of the experiments, however, are interesting from another point of
view—they throw some light upon the probable origin of the Diamond.
Moissans' experiments help to explain its occurrence in meteoric iron,
or perhaps the origin of the South African stones. Sir William Crookes
considers that the latter have been formed in some such manner, the
matrix in the "pipes" being highly ferruginous. Friedlander's
experiment, on the other hand, seems to suggest that they may have been
formed by the action of a molten silicate upon Graphite or other
carbonaceous matter. It is possible both reactions may have taken place
together, but it is bardly within the scope of the present chapter to
consider it, and the writer can only refer those at all interested to
Sir William Crookes' paper.
Without
any hesitation, it may be said that the first precious stone to be
successfully prepared in the laboratory was that most beautiful of
precious stones—the Ruby—the only stone that ranks with, and can even
rank above, the Diamond in value.
St. Claire Deville and A. Carron in 1858,1
succeeded in producing crystals of Ruby, Sapphire and Corundum by
fusing at a high temperature a mixture of boric anhydride and aluminium
fluoride ; the boron combining with the fluorine volatilises off, and
the aluminium is oxidised into 1 " Comptes Rendus," vol. xlvi.
