. Geological magazine. iption of the Big Diamond recently found in the?.Premier Mine, Transvaal. By F. H. Hatch, , , and G. S. Corstorphine, , (PLATES VII AXD VIII.) GEE AT interest has been excited, not only in the Transvaal, butthroughout the world, by the discovery at the Premier Mine,on Wednesday, the 25th January, 1905, of the largest diamondhitherto known. The stone was found by Mr. Wells, SurfaceManager, in the yellow ground about 18 feet from the surface,a brilliant flash of light from a projecting corner having caught hisattention. After a preliminary cleaning i
. Geological magazine. iption of the Big Diamond recently found in the?.Premier Mine, Transvaal. By F. H. Hatch, , , and G. S. Corstorphine, , (PLATES VII AXD VIII.) GEE AT interest has been excited, not only in the Transvaal, butthroughout the world, by the discovery at the Premier Mine,on Wednesday, the 25th January, 1905, of the largest diamondhitherto known. The stone was found by Mr. Wells, SurfaceManager, in the yellow ground about 18 feet from the surface,a brilliant flash of light from a projecting corner having caught hisattention. After a preliminary cleaning it weighs 3,024^ to Gardner Williams the South African carat is equivalentto 3-174: grains; consequently the diamond weighs 96005 grainstroy or 1-37 lbs. avoirdupois. Through the courtesy of the Directorsof the Company, we have been enabled to make an examination ofthe stone, with the following result:—Roughly speaking, it measures•4 by 2J by 2 inches; but its size and shape will be best realized hy. Diagrammatic Projection (to half scale). reference to the photographs reproduced on Plates VII and VIII,which represent the diamond from four different points of viewand its actual size. These beautiful photographs were taken byMr. E. H. V. Melvill for the purposes of this description. The stoneis bounded by eight surfaces, four of which are faces of the originalcrystal, and will be referred to in this description under the lettersA, B, C, D, and four are cleavage surfaces, the cleavage being ofcourse parallel to the face of the octahedron. In the followingdescription these cleavage surfaces are referred to under the lettersE, F, G, H. They are distinguished from the original octahedralfaces by greater regularity and smoothness. The shape and relativeposition of these various surfaces can be seen in the diagrammatic The Great Diamond from the Transvaal. 171 projection depicted in the Text-figure, whicli has been drawn in theMineralogical Laboratory of the Oxford
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectgeology, bookyear1864
