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1058 MINERAL RESOURCES, 1912.
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METRIC OR INTERNATIONAL CARAT.
A
strong movement was started in October, 1912, by members of the gem and
jewelry trade to introduce the metric or international carat into the
United States in place of the carat of variable weight now in use. At a
meeting of jewelers'and dealers in precious stones held in New York
City in October,1 1912, resolutions were passed that the
jewelry trade of the United States should adopt the metric or
international carat of 200 milligrams on and after July 1, 1913. A
committee with M. D. Rothschild, president of the American Gem &
Pearl Co., as chairman, was appointed to secure the approval of various
trade organizations interested. These resolutions were prepared after
an expression of approval by a large majority of the jewelers to whom
cards asking for their opinion had been mailed.
The
international carat will be adopted on July 1, 1913, and the committee
mentioned above has been very active furnishing information and
arranging for a supply of the new weights. These will be divided into
100 parts, the smallest, therefore, weighing 2 milligrams. Director
Stratton, of the Bureau of Standards, of the Department of Commerce,
Washington, D. O, in a letter to the committee representing the gem and
jewelry trade, has promised his cooperation in introducing the new
weights.2 The attitude of the Bureau of Standards was
further made known in an address of Dr. Louis A. Fischer before the
Retail Jewelers' Association of the District of Columbia,3
in which the use of former carat weights was shown to be very illogical
and the new international carat most advantageous to all parties
concerned. The following countries have adopted the international
carat: Spain, France, Italy, Bulgaria, Denmark, Norway, Japan,
Portugal, Roumania, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, and Germany. Interest
in the international carat is being aroused in Great Britain, where it
is likely that it will be accepted more readily after its use- is
established in the United States.
The metric or international carat is about 2-1/2 per
cent lighter than the old carat, so that 1 carat in the old system
weighs 1.025 carats in the international system. Conversion from either
system of weights into the other may be made by simple multiplication
or division.
BIRTH STONES.
The
American National Retail Jewelers' Association adopted a standard list
of birth-month stones at its meeting in Kansas City, in August, 1912.
The changes made in the lists ordinarily used were slight and consisted
chiefly of the addition of alternative stones. The following is the list4 that was adopted:
Birth-month stones.
January....................................Garnet.
February.....................................Amethyst.
March......................................Bloodstone or aquamarine.
April.......................................'.Diamond.
May........................................Emerald.
June........................................Pearl or moonstone.
July.........................................Ruby.
August.....................................Sardonyx or peridot.
September..................................Sapphire.
October......................................Opal or tourmaline.
November...................................Topaz.
December...................................Turquoise or lapis lazuli.
i Jewelers' Circular Weekly, Oct. 30,1912. ! Jewelers' Circular Weekly, Apr 2,1913.
2 Jewelers' Circular Weekly, Mar. 5,1913. * Jewelers' Circular Weekly, Aug. 14,1912,
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