Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . es or artificial preciousstones. The experiments of Gannal gained more of his productions were sent to , director of the workrooms of the jewel-ler Petitot, who examined them with care; andhaving satisfied himself that they scratched steel,and could be scratched by no metal, that they wereof pure water, and displayed a brilliant lustre, con-cluded that these little bodies were nothing elsebut diamonds. This declaration, emanating froma man well versed in the special trade, created anexcitement and even a p
Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . es or artificial preciousstones. The experiments of Gannal gained more of his productions were sent to , director of the workrooms of the jewel-ler Petitot, who examined them with care; andhaving satisfied himself that they scratched steel,and could be scratched by no metal, that they wereof pure water, and displayed a brilliant lustre, con-cluded that these little bodies were nothing elsebut diamonds. This declaration, emanating froma man well versed in the special trade, created anexcitement and even a panic in the diamond trade. The process by which Gannal obtained his dia-monds was very simple. He introduced carbon disulphide and water intoa matrass, with morsels of phosphorus, which in the ARTIFICIAL DIAMOND. 215 disulphide dissolved rapidly. He hoped that thisphosphorus would slowly absorb the sulphur of thedisulphide of carbon, and that the carbon, reducedgradually to an elementary state, would disulphide and water will not mix to-. Fig. 88.—Gannals arrangement for the Production of the Diamond. gether; and the former being much the most dense,occupied the bottom of the vase. Between the two layers a pellicle formed whichstrongly reflected the light when exposed to time this layer was augmented; and, at theend of several months it was composed of a con-glomeration of little solid bodies, which were sepa-rated from the liquid by filtration through achamois-skin. These little bodies were the crj^stalspronounced by M. Champigny to be diamonds—anopinion that was utterly erroneous. How they 2l6 PRECIOUS STONES. came there is not known, but it is probable thateither the substances made use of were not pure,or that some foreign body or bodies had foundtheir way into the matrass. The man who has most effectually disturbed theslumbers of the possessors of diamonds, by agitatingthe question of their artificial reproduction, is This patient a
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectgems, booksubjectprec
