THE DIAMOND
ARNOTT’S OBSERVATION: EXTREME HARDNESS: BOYLE AND DU FAY PROVE
ELECTRICAL QUALITIES: DR. KUNZ AND PHOSPHORESCENCE: SIR WILLIAM
CROOKS ON RADIUM AND THE DIAMOND: EXPERIMENTS IN ARTIFICIAL
PRODUCTION BY MARDEN, MOISSAN AND CROOKS: SIR CHARLES PARSONS’
CONCLUSIONS: “SEARCH FOR THE ABSOLUTE”: DISCOVERY OF A LARGE DIAMOND
AT JACOB’S FARM ON THE ORANGE RIVER: SIR WILLIAM WODEHOUSE’S
PURCHASE: DIAMONDS IN MUD BRICKS: AUSTRALIAN DIAMONDS: FIRST DIAMOND
BROUGHT TO EUROPE: GOLCONDA: BRAZIL: FLORENTINE DEMONSTRATION OF THE
TRUTH OF BOETIUS’S BELIEF AND NEWTON’S DEDUCTIONS: BOYLE’S
EXPERIMENTS AT HIGH TEMPERATURE: AVERANI PROVES THE FORCE OF THE
SUN’S RAYS ON A DIAMOND: EASILY BURNED BUT UNAFFECTED BY ACIDS: THE
GNOMES OF THE ROSICRUCIANS: GNOME LEGENDS: SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE ON
THE DIAMOND: RABBI BENONI, BOETIUS DE BOODT AND THE HINDU WRITERS:
ES-SINDIBAD OF THE SEA AND THE VALLEY OF DIAMONDS: SIMILAR STORIES:
EL-KAZWEENEE: MARCO POLO: MR. MARSDEN’S OBSERVATIONS: GOLCONDA:
LITTLE PRINCESS MARY’S DIAMOND MARRIAGE RING: LORD LISLE’S DEATH
DIAMOND: THE DIAMOND HEART RING OF MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS: QUEEN
ELIZABETH AND SIR WALTER RALEIGH: DIAMOND SAVES THE LIFE OF QUEEN
ISABELLA OF SPAIN: EX-PRESIDENT KRUGER’S UNLUCKY DIAMOND: KING
ARTHUR AND THE DIAMOND JOUSTS: THE AFFAIR OF THE DIAMOND NECKLACE:
INDIAN DIAMOND CUTTERS: LOUIS VAN BERGHEM: CHARLESMAGNE’S DIAMOND
CLASP: HERMAN THE LAPIDARY: PERUZZI: CLEMENT BIRAGO AND JACOPO DA
TREZZO ENTER THE SERVICE OF PHILIP II: POPE HILDEBRAND SENDS A
DIAMOND RING TO WILLIAM OF NORMANDY: THE DIAMOND SWORD IN THE TALE
OF THE YELLOW DWARF: THE ZODIACAL SIGNS OF THE DIAMOND: THE DIAMOND
IN LOVE AND MARRIAGE: BORT.
DIAMOND
“_The lively diamond drinks thy purest rays._”
THOMSON.
The diamond derives its name from the Greek ADAMAS, ADAMANTOS, adamant.
It has been written at various times as dyamawnte, dyamamaunt, dyamant,
diamant, diamownde, dyamonde, dyamount, diamonde, diamont, dimond,
dymauntz, and adamant stone. It is but pure crystallized carbon, and
Arnott (Physics, 1830), writes: “The diamond has nearly the greatest
light-bending power of any known substances, and hence comes in part its
brilliancy as a jewel.” It is remarkable also for its extreme hardness
and for its variety of colours—steel, white, blue, yellow, orange, red,
green, pink and black. This “prince of gems” in days of old was
considered the royal stone which only a prince was privileged to wear.
The highly electrical properties ascribed by the ancients to the diamond
were proved in the 17th and 18th centuries by the chemists Boyle and Du
Fay, and Dr. Kunz has demonstrated today that all diamonds “phosphoresce
when exposed to the rays of radium, polonium, or actinum, even when
glass is interposed.” In a paper read to the Royal Society, London,
November 5th, 1914, the late Sir William Crooks said: “Many substances
become coloured by direct exposure to radium, the colour depending on
the substance. Diamond takes a full sage-green, the depth of tint
depending on the time of exposure to the radium. In addition to the
change of colour the diamond also becomes radio-active, continuously
giving off α, β, γ rays. The acquired colour and activity withstand the
action of powerful chemical agents and continue for years with
apparently undiminished activity. Removing the surface by mechanical
means removes both colour and radio-activity. The appearance of an
auto-radiograph made by placing an active diamond crystal on a sensitive
photographic plate and the visual examination of its scintillating
luminosity suggest that there is a special discharge of energy from the
corners and points of the crystal.”
The several experiments for the production of diamonds by artificial
means have since 1880 been conducted by some eminent scientists, notably
Professor Marden, Professor Henri Moissan and Sir William Crooks. For
many years Sir Charles Parsons has been working closely at the problem,
and the main conclusions arrived at by this scholar were communicated to
the Royal Society, London, in 1918. They were as follows:
That graphite cannot be converted into diamond by heat and pressure
alone within the limits reached in the experiments;
That there is no distinct evidence that any of the chemical reactions
under pressure have yielded diamond;
That the only undoubted source of diamond is from iron previously heated
to high temperature and then cooled.
That diamond is not produced by bulk pressure as previously supposed,
but by the action of gases occluded in the metal and condensed into the
centre on quick cooling.
In connection with these experiments it will be found interesting to
read Balzac’s “Search for the Absolute,” in which it is told how after
many ruinous attempts to produce a diamond by artificial means one,
self-formed, is found in the old chemist’s laboratory after his death.
The worth and romance of the old mines of Brazil and India are dwelt on
by many of the writers of the past, and although diamonds were
discovered in South Africa in the 18th Century, yet no important
discoveries were made until 1867, when a large stone was found by
children of a Dutch farmer, Mr. Jacobs, not far from their farm near
Hopetown on the Orange River. Not knowing what the stone really was and
attaching no value to it, Mrs. Jacobs gave it to Mr. Schalk van Niekerk,
a neighbour, who entrusted it to Mr. O’Reilly, a hunter and trader,
asking him to submit it to some mineralogist for an opinion. Mr.
O’Reilly took the stone to Colesberg and showed it to Mr. Boyes, the
acting commissioner for that district, at whose suggestion it was
submitted to Dr. W. G. Atherstone of Graham’s Town. Thanks to his
mineralogical knowledge, Dr. Atherstone proved the stone to be a
diamond. It was exhibited in Paris in March, 1867, as “The First African
Diamond Discovered,” and was purchased by the Cape Governor, Sir Philip
Wodehouse, for £500. Sir Philip sold it to Garrards and it has changed
hands several times since then. The weight of this stone was 21 carats.
The famous Du Toit’s Pan was found through a Boer farmer actually
discovering diamonds in the mud bricks of which his house was built.
As early as 1866, Mr. C. W. King expected that quantities of diamonds
from Australia would reach the world’s markets, and there is no doubt
that this expectation will be realized when those parts of the vast
Commonwealth from which many diamonds have already come, have been
thoroughly tested and proved. In 1885 several companies were working at
Bingera, a township in New South Wales, 350 miles from Sydney, and many
small but pure hard stones were found. The writer has handled some few
specimens of fine blue white from Bingera, ranging from a quarter to
half a carat after cutting. The hardness of the Australian gem—which may
well add another point to Mohs’s scale—has counted against it, but
modern cutters will not consider this a bar especially if sufficient
quantities be submitted for treatment. Gold has also been found at
Bingera and, as Mr. King writes: “The observation made of old by Pliny
that the diamond always accompanies gold has been fully borne out by the
experience of succeeding ages.” The first Australian diamonds were found
in New South Wales, at Reedy Creek, near Bathurst, in 1851. In 1869
during a gold rush near Mudgee some fair diamonds were found by the
miners. Professor Liversidge of Sydney describes the occurrence of
diamonds at Bingera “as being situated in a sort of basin about four
miles long and four miles wide, hemmed in by hills on all sides, save on
the North. An old river-drift, probably an ancient bed of the river
Horton, rests upon rocks of Devonian or Carboniferous age, and is
associated with basalt by which it appears to be overlain. In some
places the materials of the drift are compacted together into a
conglomerate, so that the mode of occurrence of the diamond at Bingera
strikingly resembles that at Mudgee. The minerals composing the gravels
are also generally similar in the two cases, though points of difference
are not wanting. Some of the diamonds are clear and colourless, others
have a pale straw tint. Thousands have been found in this district, as
well as in many other localities of New South Wales.” The gravels
enclosed agate, sapphire, ruby, zircon, jasper, rock crystal, garnets,
grey corundum, ilmenite, tourmaline, gold and tin. Mr. A. R. Pike who,
with his partner, Mr. John O’Donnell, has had much experience with
Australian diamonds at Inverell, New South Wales, writes interestingly
concerning them. “With slates and diorites from the bed-rock, gold is
found in the wash, in addition to its diamond output. Rich yields of
alluvial gold have been won from the Gulgong district. The wash deposit
of this field also carries diamonds and a special class of semi-precious
gems. They embrace sapphires in large numbers and various tints;
cornflower, blue, green, dark blue, straw, yellow, and blood-red are
plentiful. The red sapphires in many cases are true rubies of the
desired pigeon-blood colour. Unfortunately all the sapphires represent
small flat fragments and are too small for cutting purposes.” A few
months ago the writer picked out about a dozen fair but small diamonds
for a “fossicker” from a little bag of different stones that he had
found in Spring Creek, Beechworth, Victoria.
It is recorded that diamonds were first brought to Europe from the first
known of the mines of Golconda, the mine of Sumbulpour, in 1584. The
mines of Brazil were discovered in 1728. Boetius de Boodt asserted in
the year 1609, his belief in the inflammability of the diamond, and in
1694 the Florentine academicians demonstrated the truth of Boetius’
belief and Newton’s deductions—Sir Isaac Newton having based his similar
conclusions on the refracting power of the diamond in 1675. Boyle
discovered in 1673 that when the diamond was submitted to high
temperature it ejected a pungent vapour in which a part of it was
consumed. In 1695 Averani experimenting with the concentrated rays of
the sun on the diamond demonstrated that “it was exhaled in vapour and
entirely disappeared while other precious stones only grew softer.” That
the diamond can be burned is easy of proof, as is also the fact that
acids have no effect upon it.
The gnomes figure in the elemental system of Rosicrucian philosophy,
being described as small people who guard the mines and treasures of the
earth, the precious stones and the metals. They are robust little
fellows of a brown colour, and their sympathy extends to philosophic
minds amongst both miners and scholars. They hate frivolity, for they
are serious little fairies. Comte de Gabalis details an argument with
their Prince who came to the upper earth in respect to the will of the
Irish sage Macnamara. Macnamara has sympathy for the gnomes whom he
calls “the unhappy guardians of treasures,” in the mystical chapters on
“The Irreconcilable.” There are numerous legends of the Gnomes, the
meanings of which are not difficult to interpret if the mind of the
student is filled with the desire to know. It is said that these little
fairies suffer much, and that when they grieve for those they have loved
and lost their tears change into diamonds, which remain as the jewel
emblems of pure and unselfish grief. That great old English traveller of
the 14th Century, Sir John Mandeville—a copy of whose MS., said to date
from the time of the author, is in the Cottonian Library—wrote that the
diamond should always be worn on the left or heart side of the body, and
that it is possible for a diamond to lose its occult virtue after being
handled by evil people: for in the human body there is more potency for
good or ill than is generally understood. There are many stories of
misfortune and discord following the possessors of stolen diamonds.
Ample evidence exists that substances handled by diseased persons are
quite capable of conveying their symptoms to others. The Diamond, ever a
symbol of purity, was regarded as a charm against all evil, but—said the
philosophers—it must not be touched by evil, by lemures, incubi, succubi
or by the formed or formless devils of the material and super-material
spheres. In this philosophy it is advised that a woman about to give
birth to a child should refrain from wearing diamonds. Rabbi Benoni
wrote in the 14th Century that the diamond was capable of producing
somnambulism and spiritual ecstasy, a suggestion which was acted on in
the last century by experimenters at Nancy. According to Boetius de
Boodt, diamonds were of different sexes, and some Hindu writers
classified them as masculine, feminine or neuter.
In the Mani Mali it is stated that:
an ill-shaped diamond carries danger
a dirty diamond carries grief
a rough diamond carries unhappiness
a black diamond carries trouble
a 3-cornered diamond carries quarrels
a 4-cornered diamond carries fear
a 5-cornered diamond carries death
a 6-cornered diamond carries fortune
However, the three, four and five cornered diamond would not be reckoned
evil in a flawless stone of good colour. It is asserted by some of the
Hindu masters that diamonds, according to their colours and qualities,
appealed to the taste as sweet, sour and salty. Marbodus calls the
diamond a potent magical charm for protecting the sleeper from evil
dreams and the child from the dreaded goblin. The fifth Arabian Heaven,
the Garden of Delights, Jannat al-Naim, is said to be composed of the
purest diamonds.
In the second voyage of Es-Sindibad of the Sea (commonly known as Sinbad
the Sailor) in the “Thousand and One Nights,” E. W. Lane’s translation,
the hero finds himself in the Valley of the Serpents: “Then I arose and
emboldened myself and walked in that valley: and I beheld its ground to
be composed of diamonds, with which they perforate minerals and jewels,
and with which also they perforate porcelain and the onyx: and it is a
stone so hard that neither iron nor rock have any effect upon it, nor
can anyone cut off aught from it or break it, unless by means of the
lead stone.... I then walked along the Valley, and while I was thus
occupied, lo, a great slaughtered animal fell before me, and I found no
one. So I wondered thereat extremely: and I remembered a story that I
had heard long before ... that in the mountains of the diamonds are
experienced great terrors, and that no one can gain access to the
diamonds, but that the merchants who import them know a stratagem by
means of which to obtain them: that they take a sheep and slaughter it,
and skin it, and cut up its flesh which they throw down from the
mountain to the bottom of the Valley: so descending, fresh and moist,
some of these stones stick to it. Then the merchants leave it until
midday, and birds of the large kind of vulture and the aquiline vulture
descend to that meat, and, taking it in their talons, fly up to the top
of the mountain: whereupon the merchants come to them and cry out at
them and they fly away from the meat. The merchants then advance to that
meat, and take from it the stones sticking to it: after which they leave
the meat for the birds and the wild beasts and carry the stones to their
countries. And no one can procure the stones but by means of this
stratagem.” In his notes and comments on this passage, Mr. Lane says:
"Though I believe that there is no known substance with which the
diamond can be cut or ground except its own substance, I think it not
improbable that the Eastern lapidaries may be acquainted with some ore,
really—or supposed by them to be—an ore of lead, by which it may be
broken, and that this is what is here called “the lead stone” or “the
stone of lead.” It is well known that those diamonds unfit for any other
purpose than that of cutting or grinding others, are broken in a steel
“mortar.” In further notes on “The Valley of Diamonds,” Mr. Lane added
the following: “El-Kaz-weenee after describing the diamond, saying ‘It
breaketh all other stones except that of lead (el-usrub, a bad kind of
lead): for if it be struck with this the diamond breaketh,’”—relates as
follows: “To the place in which the diamond is found no one can gain
access. It is a valley in the land of India, the bottom of which the
sight reacheth not: and in it are venomous serpents which no one seeth
but he dieth: and they have a summer abode for six months, and a winter
abode (where they hide themselves) for the like period. El-Iskender
(either Alexander the Great or the first Zu-l-Karneyn) commanded his men
to take some mirrors and to throw them into the Valley that the serpents
might see in them their forms and die in consequence. It is said also
that he watched for the time of their absenting themselves (or retiring
into their winter quarters) and threw down pieces of meat, and diamonds
stuck to these: then the birds came from the sky and took pieces of that
meat, and brought them up out of the valley whereupon El-Iskender
ordered his companions to follow the birds and to pick up what they
easily could of the meat.” The valley or valleys of diamonds we also
find described by other writers, among them Marco Polo, in his account
of the Kingdom of Murphili or Monsul. Mr. Marsden observes: “This is no
other than Muchli-patan or, as it is more commonly named, Masuli-patam:
the name of a principal town by a mistake not unusual, being substituted
for that of the country.... It belongs to what was at one period termed
the Kingdom of Golconda, more anciently named Teligana. Golconda, of
which Masulipatam is the principal seaport, is celebrated for the
production of diamonds.” In the astronomical observations of Mr.
Topping, printed in Dalrymple’s Oriental Repertory, mention is made of
the famous diamond mines of Golconda at a place named Malvellee, not far
from Ellore. Caesar Fredericke who was at Bijanagar in 1567 mentions
that the diamond mines were six days’ journey from that city.
Es-Sindibad’s adventure in the Valley of Diamonds has been amply
illustrated by the learned writer from whom the above remarks are
borrowed, and by Hole. The following is an extract from Marco Polo’s
Travels: “In the mountains of this Kingdom (Murphila) it is that
diamonds are found. During the rainy season the water descends in
violent torrents amongst the rocks and caverns, and when these have
subsided the people go to search for diamonds in the beds of the rivers,
where they find many. In the summer, when the heat is excessive and
there is no rain, they ascend the mountains with great fatigue as well
as with considerable danger from the number of snakes with which they
are infested. Near the summit, it is said, there are deep valleys full
of caverns and surrounded by precipices amongst which the diamonds are
found, and here many eagles and white storks, attracted by the snakes on
which they feed, are accustomed to make their nests. The persons who are
in quest of the diamonds take their stand near the mouths of the caverns
and from thence cast down several pieces of flesh which the eagles and
storks pursue into the valleys and carry off with them to the tops of
the rocks. Thither the men immediately ascend, drive the birds away, and
recovering the pieces of meat frequently find diamonds sticking to
them.” Mr. Marsden transcribes from Hole’s ingenious work part of a
quotation from Epiphanius, upon which he remarks: “Thus it appears
incontrovertibly that, so early as the fourth century of our era, the
tale of the valley of diamonds and the mode of procuring the precious
stones from it was current, divested, it is true, of the extraordinary
incident of the adventurous sailor’s escape, but in conformity with what
was related to Marco Polo—with the exception of the scene being laid in
Scythia or Western Tartary where, in fact, diamonds are not found. The
question of locality,” he adds, “is however determined by another
Oriental navigator Nicoli di Conti, who visited the coast of the
peninsula in the 15th Century....” Hole observes that a story somewhat
resembling this of the Valley of Diamonds is recorded in the travels of
Benjamin of Tudela and that the translator supposes it to have been
borrowed from “The Thousand and One Nights.” “However,” he adds with
better judgment, “I rather suspect that the account of Benjamin of
Tudela and of Es-Sindibad were derived from some common origin.”
[Illustration:
HOROSCOPE OF KRUGER
Kruger’s Diamond was once in the possession of Chaka, the Zulu chief,
killed by his brother who was in turn murdered. It is stated that
this stone changed owners 15 times, tragedy following each
possessor.
]
Perhaps the smallest diamond ring mentioned was placed by Cardinal
Wolsey on the tiny finger of the little Princess Mary, aged just two
years, daughter of Henry VIII, on October 5th, 1518, on the occasion of
her marriage with the baby Dauphin of France, son of Francis I. The baby
bride’s dress was of cloth of gold and her black velvet cap sparkled
with jewels. Another historical diamond ring was that sent to the
imprisoned Lord Lisle, giving freedom and forgiveness—an act so
unexpected that it caused the unfortunate man to die of joy. The ring
sent by Mary, Queen of Scots, to Queen Elizabeth, is described by Mr.
William Jones, quoting from Aubrey, as “a delicate piece of mechanism
consisting of several joints which, when united, formed the quaint
device of two right hands supporting a heart between them. This heart
was composed of two separate diamonds held together by a central spring
which, when opened, would allow either of the hearts to be detached.
Queen Elizabeth kept one moietie and sent the other as a token of her
constant friendship to Mary, Queen of Scots, but she cut off her head
for all that.” Another story of Elizabeth, quoted by Fairholt, is that
Sir Walter Raleigh wrote on a window with his pointed diamond ring:
“Fain would I rise, but that I fear to fall,” the Queen writing beneath
with her ring: “If thy heart fail thee, do not rise at all.” Very
different was the experience of Queen Isabella who was saved from death
by a diamond. Ex-President Kruger’s diamond had a bad history that did
not change with its different holders. In allusion to the Diamond Jousts
instituted by King Arthur, Dr. Brewer says: “He named them by that name
since a diamond was the prize. Ere he was King he came by accident to a
glen in Lyonnesse, where two brothers had met in combat. Each was slain,
but one had worn a crown of diamonds which Arthur picked up, and when he
became King offered the nine diamonds as the prize of nine several
jousts—‘one every year, a joust for one.’ Lancelot had won eight and
intended to present them all to the Queen when all were won. When the
knight laid them before the Queen, Guinevere in a fit of jealousy flung
them out of the palace window into the river which ran below.”
[Illustration:
HOROSCOPE OF ISABELLA II
This Queen was saved from assassination when the dagger of her
would-be murderer glanced off the diamond she wore.
]
The affair of the Diamond Necklace is familiar to readers of history and
romance. It attracted the perceptive mind of Dumas who moulded it into
an interesting story, but of its reality no doubt has ever been
entertained. The Prince Cardinal de Rohan, having entertained a secret
affection for Queen Marie Antoinette, the Countess de Lamotte to forward
her own nefarious designs persuaded him that the Queen reciprocated his
passion. By thus working on the Cardinal’s feelings, Madame de Lamotte
managed to relieve him of some sums of money, and succeeding so well in
this way, she and her husband resolved on a more imposing venture. Louis
XV had had made a wonderful diamond necklace which he intended as a
present for his favorite Madame Du Barry. Before it was finished Louis
had passed away, and his favourite had been driven from court. The
necklace which was made by Boehmer consisted of 500 magnificent
diamonds, the whole when completed being valued at 1,800,000 livres.
Madame de Lamotte represented to the Cardinal the Queen’s desire for
this handsome necklace, asking him as Her Majesty was at the time unable
to pay the amount of the purchase money, which she said amounted to
£700,000 sterling, to become security for her for this amount. This he
gladly consented to do, and added his name to the forged signature of
the Queen. On February 1st, 1786, the Cardinal carried the precious
jewel to Versailles, whence by arrangement a messenger from the Queen
was to take it. The next day, as arranged by Madame de Lamotte’s
husband, an accomplice dressed in the uniform of a court official
entered the Cardinal’s apartments at Versailles and muttering several
times “De par la Reine” (in the Queen’s name) relieved the trusting
Cardinal of the necklace. It was afterwards broken up and disposed of by
these three conspirators, in England it is believed. Some time
afterwards Boehmer, not receiving his payment, applied to Marie
Antoinette for his money. She denied all knowledge of the affair.
Boehmer thereupon brought the case before the Parlement de Paris in
1785, and in May, 1786, after a trial of 9 months, the Cardinal,
Monsieur de Lamotte and his accomplice were acquitted, but Madame de
Lamotte was sent to prison for life, each shoulder being branded with
the letter V (Voleuse, thief).
The Indians were the first to polish a diamond with its own dust, but
their cutting only consisted in burnishing the original facets or
concealing defects by a number of new and smaller ones. Louis van
Berghem is credited with being the first to cut and polish diamonds with
their own dust in 1456, but both Emanuel and King refer to four large
diamonds which adorned the clasp of the Emperor Charlemagne 1373, and to
numerous cut specimens of older date set in church monuments. Emanuel
mentions the skillful Herman who worked in the year 1407. Towards the
end of the 16th Century, Peruzzi invented the double cutting known as
“Brillants recoupes,” and of late years the modern cutters have reached
a high degree of artistic excellence, producing the most beautifully cut
specimens the world has seen. Clement Birago and Jacopo da Trezzo were
the first to engrave upon the diamond, and both “enriched in the service
of Philip II.” In giving the Papal Sacred Banner and Blessing to William
of Normandy when about to invade England after the excommunication of
Harold, Pope Hildebrand sent a diamond ring, said to enclose a hair from
the head of Peter the Apostle. In the Comtesse d’Anois’ pretty fairy
story, “The Yellow Dwarf,” the mermaid gives the captive King an
all-conquering sword made from a single diamond, which rendered
invincible anyone who carried it.
The diamond is astrologically under the sign of the Sun Leo, and has
power especially in Aries and Libra. To dream of diamonds was considered
symbolical of success, wealth, happiness and victory, and its reputed
power of binding man and woman together in happy wedlock has made it a
favourite stone for engagement rings, and in some countries for wedding
rings.
BORT or BOART is the name applied to imperfect greyish or blackish
specimens which are powdered and used for cutting and polishing diamonds
and hard gems, among other purposes.