different
from the carat used by several countries. With the acceptance by the
international committee of weights and measures and the sexennial
conference of the metric convention/ the metric carat is a legal weight
in all countries using the metric system of weights and measures.
Artificial diamonds.—Much
interest has been manifested in the case of Sir Julius Wernher, of the
De Beers Company, against a French engineer, Henri Lemoine, who claimed
to manufacture diamonds by a secret process. In 1904 Lemoine succeeded
in interesting Sir Julius in his process, and when its genuineness was
apparently established a contract was drawn up. Under the conditions of
this contract Lemoine was to receive a large sum of money for his
invention, which was to remain secret until his death, and all
diamonds made were to be turned over to Sir Julius. A description of
the process of manufacture was placed in a sealed envelope and
deposited in the Union of London and Smith's Bank, where it was to
remain until Lemoine's death and then to become the property of Sir
Julius. It is said that over $300,000 were advanced to Lemoine for a
factory and apparatus, and for this sum, or part of it, Sir Julius
brought suit, since he no longer had faith in Lemoine's process. During
the trial Lemoine asked for an opportunity to give a demonstration, and
during April, 1908, was released on bail for this purpose. After
making elaborate preparations he not only failed to produce artificial
diamonds but forfeited his bail and fled. The sealed envelope was
opened and was found to contain a jumble of recipes of no value.
EMERALD. NORTH CAROLINA.
Emerald
was obtained from three places in North Carolina during 1907. The
greater part came from the emerald-hiddenite mine and the Ellis emerald
mine, already described under beryl. Of the remainder, part was found
at a prospect belonging to Mr. W. H. Warren, 1 mile north of Hiddenite,
and part consisted of emerald matrix from Mitchell County probably
mined some years ago and recently cut.
COLOMBIA.
A
few notes on the famous emerald mines of Muzo, Colombia, are given in a
letter from Bogota, based on the report of the German minister to his
government, in the New York Herald.6 The mines are now
leased to a Colombian syndicate for a period of five years, under rigid
government supervision. The Government expects to work the mines on its
own account when the present lease expires. The mines are on the side
of a steep mountain about 350 feet above the mining village. Formerly
the Spaniards worked them for emeralds by driving adits into the
hillsides; now they are operated by open cut work with terraces. The
rock is broken into smaller and smaller fragments by peons, who pick
the gems out from washing troughs.
oComptea
rendus des stances de la quatrieme conference generate des poids et
mesures, Paris 1907, p. 60. "Jewelers' Circ. Weekly, November 13, 1907.
