edges,
the convex faces, and the solid angles are caused by an apparently
secondary building up of the faces of a perfect octahedron, and for the
same reason the girdle is not a perfect square, but has a somewhat
circular form. These observations were well shown by enlarged drawings.
The faces seem to be composed of thin plates overlying each other, each
slightly smaller than the last. These plates are triangular, but the
lines forming the triangles are curved, and the edges of the plates
are beveled. Mr. Hanks remarked that it could be seen by the enlarged
crystals shown under the microscope, and by drawings exhibited, that
each triangular plate was composed of three smaller triangles and that
all the lines were slightly curved. The building up of plate upon
plate caused the channeled edges and the somewhat globular form of this
exquisite crystal. A close examination of the crystal revealed
tetrahedral impressions, as if the corners of the minute cubes had been
imprinted on the surface of the crystal while in a plastic state. These
are the result of the law of crystallography, as was shown by the
faint lines forming a lace-work of tiny triangles on the faces when the
stone was placed in a proper light. Mr. Hanks concluded with the remark
that it would be an act of vandalism to cut this beautiful crystal,
which is doubly a gem, and he protested against its being defiled by
contact with the lapidary's wheel. The Cherokee district, in Butte
County, has been, from as early as 1853, one of the most prolific
diamond localities in the State. Cherokee is near the North Fork of
Feather River, and the geological relations of the diamonds and gold
are essentially the same as those in Amador County, a hundred miles to
the northwest, both districts lying among the western foot-hills of the
Sierras, as previously described. Mr. Hanks calls attention to included
leaf-impressions in the volcanic beds, as proving them to be tufas and
not lavas. In number, the Cherokee diamonds obtained are about equal to
those from Volcano. One was shown by Professor Silliman, on the
occasion already mentioned, in 1867 ; and others were then known to be
from that locality. William Bradreth obtained a crystal in the same
year which he afterward had cut into a fine white stone of 1-3/16
carats. In 1873, several were obtained from the ground of the Spring
Val-