Leisure hours among the gems

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.