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Sec. II, Ch. 1: The Diamond

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The Diamond.
73
microscopic grains, as to be utterly destitute of commercial value. Nevertheless they are of great scientific interest as suggesting a possible mode of origin for natural Diamonds. Indeed Sir W. Crookes believes that the South African Diamonds may have been formed in a somewhat similar way from deep-seated masses of metallic iron.
In connection with this subject mention should be made of some remarkable discoveries of diamantoid carbon in meteoric iron. On September 22nd, 1886, three meteo­rites, or sky-stones, fell near Novo Urei, in a remote part of South-Eastern Russia. These strange visitants from space were subjected to scientific examination by MM. Jerofeiff and Latchinoff ; and in one of the meteorites,carbon was found in a diamantoid condition, forming about one per cent, of the entire weight of the stone. It is true that this carbon was rather of the character of carbonado, the black variety of Diamond, to be subsequently described ; but still the presence of any kind of Diamond in an aerolite is a fact of surpassing scientific interest, while even those who are not scientific, will not fail to appreciate the importance of finding this remarkable mineral in a heaven-dropped stone..
Still more remarkable results attended the examina­tion of the famous meteorites of Canyon Diablo, in Arizona. In 1890 numerous fragments of iron, some weighing as much as half a ton, were found scattered over the surface of a plain in Arizona, and were regarded by a prospector as representing the outcrop of a lode of metallic iron. Their meteoric character was however recognized by the late Dr. A. E. Foote, of Philadelphia ; and in cutting through one of the masses, to form a slab, he discovered certain hard grains, which Professor G. A. Koenig, on careful examina­tion, pronounced to be veritable Diamonds ! This remarkable
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