iridium
holder a second chip, which when it melts flies off and adheres to the
first melted chip and they are fused together. The continuation of this
process of adding particles results in the production of a genuine
ruby of the shape of a pear, resting on its stem—the first chips
fused—varying from five to ten carats in weight. The operation lasts
from one to two hours, according to the size of the stone produced. The
most difficult part of the process is the cooling; Nature's laboratory
in which the ruby was produced had the resources of a tremendous
sustained heat and a cooling process of unknown duration. In general,
Nature's cooling process was too rapid, the evidence being in the
minute cracks, called ribbons, which run through most rubies and the
absence of which makes the perfect ruby one of the rarest and costliest
of stones, especially when the cut gem weighs two carats or more. The
cooling process is secret and one of the most important factors in the
achievement of the reconstructed ruby. The enlarged ruby is then cut by
the lapidary exactly as is the natural ruby, for it is the same in its
chemical and physical constitution. This is attested by analysis made
by very high scientific authorities, their reports being in my
possession and open to the inspection of anyone.
The
scientific ruby is wholly the result of artificial means but is
genuine to the extent of being a properly proportioned combination of
the chemical constituents of the natural ruby; in manufacturing the
scientific ruby we begin with a solution of common alum, to which a
trace of chrome alum is added as the ultimate colouring constituent.
Nov add ammonia, and there results a gelatinous pre-
