LEISURE HOURS AMONG THE GEMS
[Illustration: CRYSTAL OF SAPPHIRE
CEYLON
Exact size.
HAMLIN COLLECTION]
LEISURE HOURS AMONG
THE GEMS
BY
AUGUSTUS C. HAMLIN
AUTHOR OF A TREATISE ON THE TOURMALINE
FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE
MEMBER OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUARIES OF NORTHERN EUROPE
CHEVALIER OF ST. ANNE, ETC.
“Now in matter of the knowledge of the works of nature, I would
have thee give thyself curiously; so that there be no sea, river,
nor fountain of which thou dost not know the fishes; all the fowls
of the air; all the metals that are hid within the bowels of the
earth; together with the precious stones that are to be seen in the
east and south of the world. Let nothing of all these be unknown to
thee.”--RABELAIS.
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
The Riverside Press, Cambridge
1891
_Copyright, 1884_,
BY AUGUSTUS C. HAMLIN.
_All rights reserved._
_The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._
Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company.
DEDICATION.
[Illustration]
_Whatever of interest or value there is to be found in these
pages is earnestly inscribed_
To the Memory
OF
JEAN ANDRÉ DE PEYSONNEL,
_who ventured to announce to the men of science of the Royal Academies
of Europe in the eighteenth century that the_ CORAL _was the product
of animal life, and not of vegetable growth. In answer to his simple
discovery and honest declaration, the naturalist was met with a storm
of contempt and derision that eventually wrecked his happiness and his
life._
CONTENTS.
PAGE
THE DIAMOND 13
THE EMERALD 285
THE OPAL 335
THE SAPPHIRE 367
THE DIAMOND.
Le diamant: c’est l’art des choses idéales
Et ces rayons d’argent, d’or, de pourpre, et d’azur
Ne cessent de lancer les deux lueurs égales
De pensers les plus beaux, de l’amour le plus pur.
Il porte du génie et transmet les empruntes,
Oui, de ce qui survit aux nations éteintes,
C’est lui le plus brillant trésor et le plus dur.
ALFRED DE VIGNY.
LEISURE HOURS AMONG THE GEMS.
CHAPTER I.
THE DIAMOND.
The advice of Rabelais quoted on our titlepage indicates sound
judgment, if not a glimmer of prophetic feeling; but we doubt very much
whether the quaint philosopher had any conception of its extent and
scope when he gave it. Could the queer, sceptical old fellow return
to earth again after his long quiet sleep of almost four centuries,
how astonished would he appear at the revelations of the students
who have followed his suggestion during the last century even! And
yet in reality how little has been revealed to the limited vision of
man, compared with the vast resources of nature still unexplored and
shrouded in mystery. In enumerating the precious stones among the
works of nature worthy of the contemplation and earnest study of man,
Rabelais not only exhibited a prophetic discernment, but he disclosed
the fancies which invested these mineral objects in his day and in
earlier times, and which have in a measure descended to the present
era, and still exert some influence.
The study of the gems is one of the most interesting of all the
objects of natural history; and although the field of research appears
somewhat limited at first glance, the scene expands as we advance,
and we are soon lost in the beauty and mystery of the subject, which
as yet no man has been fully able to comprehend and explain. It is
commonly understood that this study is simply a matter of commerce,
or belonging to the province of the jeweller or the mineralogist. But
the subject is really of far greater importance. Several of the ablest
of our philosophers have been deeply interested in this pursuit, and
have revealed to us startling phenomena, many of which have been turned
greatly to the aid of science and the comfort of mankind. After so many
years of study and research, the field of observation and discovery is
by no means exhausted.
We may take another view of the subject solely with the artistic eye,
and find much for enjoyment and contemplation. In the art of ancient
times the precious stones played an important part, and by means of the
engraved gems we are enabled to form an idea of the wonderful skill
of the artists of those periods. By means of these engraved stones
the portraits of many of the illustrious characters of antiquity have
been preserved, and also representations of some of the masterpieces
of sculpture, which have since been destroyed by time or the hand of
barbarism. If the reader, exercising a little credulity and patience,
will kindly follow me through the observations of many years here
condensed and recorded, he may in a slight degree partake of some of
the enthusiasm and interest of the author.
But, before we proceed very far on the pleasant and seductive journey,
let us understand each other, and, above all, allow the author to
confess that his knowledge of the subject is decidedly imperfect, and
perhaps somewhat visionary at times.
We will consider first the diamond, not because we regard it the
foremost in interest among minerals, but because it is to-day reckoned
commercially, as it was in the time of the Latin philosopher, Pliny,
nearly two thousand years ago, “Maximum in rebus humanis,”--“The most
costly of human possessions.” But we must, however, slightly modify
the remark, and now apply it to the rare colored varieties of the gem,
since commerce and refined taste rank the red sapphire far above the
colorless diamond in value, and sometimes even the emerald and rare
blue sapphires exceed it in price. It is interesting, and at times
amusing, to read the views of the ancient gem-writers, and even those
of mediæval times, relating to this remarkable mineral, and compare
them with the accepted opinions of the present day. The ancients were
completely ignorant of the nature of the stone, and called it “adamas,”
or the invincible, from the mistaken idea that it could resist all
external violence, and was also perfectly indestructible. Modern
science, however, has disclosed the fact that the gem is not only quite
delicate in its structure, but that it is also utterly perishable in
its nature. The revelations of chemistry have clearly demonstrated that
the glittering stone, known as the diamond, is simply crystallized
carbon, and one of the allotropic forms of that protean element which,
by the aid of some mysterious agency, can deposit its substance in
the shape of a sooty blackness, as in the coal, or in the transparent
crystal of diamond, which may be regarded as the very emblem of light.
Furthermore, the gem is not only the concentrated embodiment of human
valuation, but it is also the standard of hardness among all mineral
substances; and yet, strange to say, plumbago, which apparently is of
the same composition, is exactly the reverse, and quite as soft as talc.
Here, then, we may behold one of the strangest antitheses to be seen
in the whole mineral kingdom, for we have a simple and singular
mineral composed of the meanest of elements, yet whose different forms
illustrate the extremes of hardness, and may also be considered to
represent the antipodes of material treasures.
The crystallized and transparent variety, when it occurs in its
greatest perfection, and especially with the rare colors of red, blue,
and green, forms indeed the most beautiful of all the decorative stones
yet known to man. For it not only far exceeds all others in degree of
hardness, but it also surpasses them in its extraordinary brilliancy
and the wonderful display of the prismatic colors, especially by
artificial light, which charm it alone possesses of all the gems and
precious stones.
Although it is widely distributed over the world, and has been known
to man for many centuries, yet its distribution, its deposition, its
geological age, are not only puzzling themes to the mineralogist, but
they are yet subjects of startling interest to the philosopher.
The origin of the stone has long been a subject of inquiry among
experimentalists, and it has received more attention from them than
all the other gems reckoned together. As for our humble opinion, after
long consideration of this multitude of hypotheses, we are inclined
to assert the diamond to be the product of decomposition of vegetable
material, and derived from one of the numerous chemical compounds of
carbon and hydrogen. We find some of these forms generated wherever
vegetable matter is decomposed under water, and in the gem strata of
the diamond placers we may observe abundant evidence of material for
metamorphosis. If we admit the origin of the gem to be from vegetable
matter, or derived from any transformations of organic débris, we then
reduce the history of the diamond to a simple problem; for it is quite
easy to explain, or rather imagine, the required chemical change under
the action of electricity or telluric magnetism, and all along the true
gem formations the phenomena of the earth’s vitality in this respect
are remarkable.
Carbon is commonly mentioned as the meanest of elements, yet, when
we come to consider its bearing in the mineral kingdom, and its
vast relations in human industry, or its effect in the progress of
civilization, it deserves a higher rank, or certainly a more generous
classification among the constituents of the earth. For it not only
occurs in various states in the air, the sea, and the more solid
portions of the earth, but we find it an essential ingredient in the
structure of all animal and vegetable life. It is really one of the
most interesting and important of the elementary bodies, and may
present itself in a variety of allotropic forms of remarkable and
striking character. To its combination in the mineral substance known
as coal the world owes its greatest blessing, save the golden grains
Triptolemus gave to mankind. From its purest and crystallized form art
derives its richest and most dazzling object of ornamentation. Without
it the globe would soon become desolate and all organic life cease to
exist.
In contemplating the transcendent beauties of the purest of its states,
the observer can hardly realize that between the sparkling diamond and
the black, lustreless mineral known as graphite, there is only the
difference in the arrangement of their invisible atoms. Yet, so far
as we know at the present day, the two objects are apparently of the
same composition, differing only in their system of crystallization.
The first we recognize as the perfection of natural beauty, the
concentration of brilliancy, and the standard of limpidity, while the
other is directly the opposite in its effects and relations. The
diamond, when exposed to sufficient heat, parts with its wonderful
beauty and disappears, leaving only a minute trace of seemingly
carbonized matter.
It often perplexes the student in chemistry to explain the varied
forms and the different properties of substances having apparently
the same composition. It is not especially in the mineral kingdom
that he meets with these strange anomalies, but his mystery becomes
intensified when attempting to solve the problems of organic life. For
instance, in seeking to explain the odors of vegetable substances,
he finds that ten parts of carbon and sixteen of hydrogen appear to
form the sole constituents of many perfumes,--like the oil of lemons,
lavender, turpentine, etc. And yet, with the elements known, he not
only finds himself unable to combine them artificially so as to produce
the perfumes, or explain satisfactorily why bodies possessing the same
constituent parts exhale odors so different.
Among all these investigations and reasonings the question comes
forcibly to the mind, why was the gem created, and has the day gone by
when the conditions required for its formation no longer exist? With
due respect to the phenomena connected with the crystallization and
deposition of metals and minerals at the present time, we cannot answer
this inquiry hastily.
We may affirm, perhaps, that nature possesses the power to form the
diamond to-day, but are the conditions requisite for its evolution
present and complete? We will not now attempt to discuss the arguments
bearing upon this interesting theme; but we will, however, modestly
state that it is our belief that the diamond is the last gem placed
upon the earth, and that the period of its deposition was subsequent
to the introduction of some of the higher forms of animal life on the
globe, and, possibly, since the appearance even of man.