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The Diamond.
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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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