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INTRODUCTORY 5
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yielded
or is now yielding up its secrets with more or less freedom to the
scientist. By his method of synthesis (which is the scientific name for
putting substances together in order to form new compounds out of their
union) or of analysis (the decomposing of bodies so as to divide or
separate them into substances of less complexity), particularly the
latter, he slowly and surely breaks down the substances undergoing
examination into their various constituents, reducing these still
further till no more reduction is possible, and he arrives at their
elements. From their behaviour during the many and varied processes
through which they have passed he finds out, with unen-ing accuracy,
the exact proportions of their composition, and, in many cases, the
cause of their origin.
It
may be thought that, knowing all this, it is strange that man does not
himself manufacture these rare gems, such as the diamond, but so far he
has only succeeded in milking a few of microscopic size, altogether
useless except as scientific curiosities. The manner in which these
minute gems and spurious stones are manufactured, and the methods by
which they may readily be distinguished from real, will be dealt with
in due course.
The
natural stones represent the slow chemical action of water, decay, and
association with, or near, other chemical substances or elements,
combined with the action of millions of years of time, and the
unceasing enormous pressure during that time of thousands, perhaps
millions, of tons of earth, rock, and the like, subjected, for a
certain portion at least of that period, to extremes of heat or cold,
all of which determine the
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