The origin of this precious stone has been a favorite study with man from the earliest times of its history; and, as we have already stated, it has given birth to a multitude of hypotheses.
The peculiar fascination which attends the contemplation of the gems arises partly from their commercial distinction, as well as from certain mysterious properties with which they have been invested not only by tradition but even by scientific research.
We will not, however, venture to affirm that they are more wonderful or deserving of a higher place in the estimation of man than the beautiful and more transient flowers of vegetation. Both are indeed objects of our highest consideration.
The transparent diamonds always occur in crystalline forms, although they sometimes appear almost amorphous or even cylindrical or globular. Its primitive form, however, is the octahedron.
They are found generally in limited deposits, which are often as shallow and well defined as the gold fields, which are termed placers; and therefore we will also call the diamond fields “diamond placers.”
In some “placers” the shapes of the crystals are perfectly regular, while in others they are greatly modified and rendered indistinct. In some mines they occur in fine octahedrons with beautifully truncated edges, but in other districts the rare form of the regular cube may abound. Every section of the diamond-bearing countries seems to have some peculiarity either in color, form, or arrangement of crystal. It is indeed true that experts, from an examination of the rough specimen, are sometimes able to detect the locality whence the diamond was obtained. The same facility may be applied to the natural crystals of other gems, but it cannot be established as a fixed or general rule. The diamond “placers,” distinct and well defined, are far more numerous on the earth’s crust than is generally believed.
A thousand plausible and often ingenious theories on the geological character of the diamond have been advanced in modern times or within a century past; and a great variety of rocks or mineral substances extending from itacolumite to xanthophyllite have been affirmed to be the parent mineral. The real matrix, or such as we believe it to be, of the diamond is the same all over the world. The associate minerals which form the conglomerate in which it is generally found may vary somewhat, but the character of the deposit is but little changed. This matrix is a secondary product, and consists of a conglomerate gravel which once abounded in remains of animal and vegetable life.
The keen eye of Buffon early detected the formation of the true gem strata; and believing that the gems were produced in these peculiar beds by the solar forces, he boldly asserted that they were formed in the superficial strata from débris of older formations, mineral, animal, and vegetable. “On ne peut leur donner d’autre origine, d’autre matrice que la terre limoneuse qui rassemblant les debris des autres matieres.”
This matrix is a well-defined conglomerate, which is found generally on elevated plateaux, and which corresponds to the bottoms of shallow lagoons or lakes of inconsiderable depth. In the earthy portion, which is composed of a variety of débris, occur the diamonds, interspersed among the quartz or rock pebbles, and in a marked and continuous layer. These formations are well known to the geologist, for they occur in almost every country on the globe.
In various parts of the earth’s structure we find solid strata of conglomerate and sandstone, which have been formed at distant and different periods of the world’s history. In other places we may observe the loose materials of the same formation awaiting transformation when exposed to the action of water highly charged with iron, lime, or silica, and we may even see the process taking place at the present day. For example, we will take the broad tracts of level country known in the south of France as the “Landes.” Here we have an excellent illustration of the formation of the gem beds, lacking, however, the precious stones. Below the surface of these plains, and generally at the depth of about three feet, a conglomerate called “allios” has formed, and is still in the process of forming. This stony layer, which is composed of quartz pebbles mixed with sand, has been cemented strongly together by the vegetable and organic matter which has trickled down from the surface of the earth during indefinite periods of time. The action of this organic débris soon renders the conglomerate quite impervious to water, and retards its passing into the sand beds or other strata below. In consequence thereof these broad tracts of level lands become stagnant lagoons of water during the rainy seasons, and all the remains of vegetable and other organic life sink down into these layers of stone, gradually filling up the interstices among the rocks and lesser pebbles.
This collection of decayed various organic substances is generally of a gray or blackish color, or may be of a rusty yellow-hue like ferruginous sandstone. Its cementing power has given a special name to the formation it has caused; and to the gold-miner it is known as hard-pan, to the gem-seeker as cascalho or “mellan.” Its peculiar hue, together with the metallic fracture of its layers, has given rise to the belief that it was composed chiefly of a ferruginous oxide. Recent analysis, however, of the “allios” has shown that this idea is partly erroneous, and that the color and the substance of the formation in reality arises from the juice and débris of plants loaded with tannin and other matter. Iron, it seems from these investigations, is present only in small quantities, and also is afforded by the secretion of vegetable life. However, the quantity of iron in the conglomerate varies considerably in different localities, but most of it seems to be acquired from the action of vegetable vitality.
These conglomerates of the Landes have been a long time in process of formation; but in other localities, like those of the Cape de Verde, to which the waves of the sea have had access, we may witness the transformation going on with rapidity. No great time is required by nature for this production, but rather the application or conjunction of certain materials exposed to the action of chemical changes and telluric forces.
It has been asserted that the diamond has been found embedded in the singular quartzite to which Count D’Eschwège gave the name of itacolumite, but we are inclined from examination of one of these specimens to think that its presence is quite accidental.
In the State of Georgia there are immense beds of itacolumite, appearing, also, here and there along the auriferous formation which extends from Virginia to central Alabama; and they afford ample fields for proof of the statement that the mineral is really the true matrix of the gem. But, after careful examination of some of these exposed rocks, we are led to regard the itacolumite as an associate mineral to the diamond, and that any farther connection with the gem is very distant. Fragments of this rock are quite often found together with quartz in the conglomerate; but we do not regard their presence as essential as that of a ferruginous oxide, which is one of the distinguishing features of all gem mines, and especially of the famous deposits of Ceylon, where the diamond is never found.
The best and most characteristic mines of India, Brazil, and Africa are situated on elevated plateaux, where there is at present but little vegetation.
To give the reader an idea of the formation, we will describe one of the districts of South Africa, which may serve to illustrate all others. At Pnict Kopje, in the Vaal region, the diamonds are found on an elevated plateau one hundred and fifty feet above the river bed; and many of them have been discovered but two or three feet below the surface, in company with fossil wood and even bones. In the Orange River Republic they occur frequently in peculiar isolated and circumscribed spots, called by the miners “pans.” These are basin-like hollows which are filled with water during the wet seasons. In these pans none of the diamonds exhibit signs of abrasion caused by shock or attrition, although the quartz pebbles forming the gravel and conglomerate show in their rounded angles evidences of aqueous action. The gems are not only found in the shallow edges of these hollows, but are taken from depths of one hundred feet and more. And they are always found in their peculiar and connected conglomerate, which seems to have formed at the bottom of some pool or lake. Hence we may explain the superficial depth of the cascalho at the shores of the extinct pond, and the increased depth at central parts of the fields. If motion had taken place among the pebbles forming the conglomerate after the deposition of the diamond, we might properly look for worn surfaces on the gems from shock with contact with loose rocks; for slight blows will mar the surface of the diamond, even if its edges scratch all other minerals with perfect ease.
In these pans the diamonds are natural in form, indicating that they have not moved since the time they were deposited. But in the beds of the rivers which have in later times worn deep ravines in the face of the country we find diamonds with abraded surfaces, having been rolled about by the torrents for indefinite periods of time. Whence come the alluvial soils and the gravel beds which cover the gem strata and completely fill up the lake depression, especially when there are no surrounding elevations to furnish disintegrated material?
This serious question will naturally arise in the minds of all observers; and to answer it clearly will be a difficult task. Sometimes the thought occurs to us that much of the quartz gravel has formed in these pools at subsequent periods and has been broken up and rolled about by the waves until another stratum of alluvium has formed above it; but we will not venture to assert an opinion to this effect. Still, it is a great mystery to ascertain whence some of the quartz pebbles came from in the present elevated condition of the placers and the absence of similar rocks in the vicinity. There is another fact connected with the diamond placers which deserves consideration, and that is their great elevation above the sea level.
The mines of India, Africa, and Brazil are situated at a considerable altitude above the ocean. Those of India are generally a thousand feet above the sea level; while the wonderful gem mines of the adjacent island of Ceylon, which are also true placers, occur but few feet above the line of the tides, but do not yield the diamond. It is certainly remarkable that Ceylon does not afford this gem among the great number of other precious stones. At first thought the idea occurs to the observer that as flora and fauna have their distribution according to certain elevations a similar rule may be applied to the deposition of minerals. But there are too many exceptions known to oppose this view, however pleasing the theory may be.
One of the strongest arguments in favor of the theory of the recent deposition of the gem is connected with its discovery in the gold mines of the Adolfskoi in Siberia. Here they were found in alluvial strata twenty feet above those deposits which contained the bones of the mammoth and the rhinoceros. Hence Humboldt, Murchison, and Verneuil were led to the conclusion that they had been deposited there since the introduction of animal life. There are also some remarkable evidences to sustain the view that these gems were formed in the conglomerate and earth where they are now found. In some of the mines of India they have been taken out of red earth with the earth clinging to their sides as if it had become attached to them, while the crystals were of a soft, glutinous substance. In the Museum of Rio Janeiro there is a large rounded diamond which has very distinct impressions of grains of sand upon its sides. The British Museum contains an octahedral crystal attached to alluvial gold, and Dr. Nello Franka mentions another which enclosed a leaf of gold. A number of specimens have been observed containing splinters of ferruginous quartz and crystals of other substances. The microscope often reveals in the interior of these stones germs of fungi and even vegetable fibres of higher organization, some of which resemble the moss-like appearance seen in the moss agates.
It was from the study of these conditions, connected with the fact that the stone becomes black when strongly heated, that Goppert was led to assert that it could not be of igneous origin. It was also from investigation of the refractive powers of the gem that Sir David Brewster was induced to assume the hypothesis that it was, or that it might be, a congealed secretion of a vegetable production. This distinguished philosopher was seeking a perfect lens for microscopic use; and discovered that the diamond, notwithstanding its immense refractive power, was of very doubtful character in its adaptation to this purpose, and that its laminæ were sometimes of different shades and even arranged in a series of stratification. They not only differed from each other in color and purity, but did not exhibit a common focus. Therefore, Brewster was led to infer from these and other phenomena that the mineral was of vegetable origin, and that its parts must have been held in solution before crystallization took place.
There is nothing very startling in this hypothesis, no more so than in the case of the amber, which is now admitted to be a fossil resin, and which is, in its refractive powers, second only to the diamond. Therefore we cannot object to the theory of vegetable origin on account of the property of brilliancy.
Tavernier observed that the color of the diamonds in India often partook of the color of the gravel in which they were deposited,—white, reddish, blackish, or greenish, according to the color and purity of the matrix. This fact has also been noticed in Brazil; and it lends support to the view that the gems have been deposited under stagnant water, and have received some tinge from its color.
The diamond is admitted by microscopists to be one of the foulest gems known to them; and specimens are rare that do not exhibit cavities, imperfections, or foreign matter in their interior. A painstaking microscopist, after examining the large collection of rough crystals of the East India Company in London, which numbered several hundred specimens, came to the following conclusion: “It seems to be a general truth that there are comparatively few diamonds without cavities and flaws, and that the diamond is a fouler stone than any other used in jewelry.”
Berzelius first called attention to a black substance which he found in a diamond belonging to the collection of Countess Porlier; and since then many other examples have been observed. Frequently black specks resembling anthracite have been noticed in the Brazilian diamonds. Tavernier saw in India a large diamond of one hundred and four karats, whose central portion was so foul as to render the stone worthless. When it was cut open the cavity yielded about eight karats of filth, resembling that of a rotten weed.
The diamond is now recognized by the chemist as a crystalline form of pure carbon. Newton, in 1675, with the wonderful penetration of his genius, and reasoning from the high refractive power of the gem, which so far exceeded the degree due its density, believed it to be combustible. More than a century later the experimentalists of the Academy of Florence strengthened this view by destroying it in the focus of powerful burning mirrors. Lavoisier, however, dispelled all doubts concerning its combustibility by burning it under a receiver filled with oxygen gas. It has since been ascertained that a temperature of 14° Wedgewood completely volatilizes the diamond, producing carbonic acid gas. An English experimentalist, however, has recently declared that the gem may be consumed at a red heat, and maintains that he has accomplished this result by enveloping the stone in certain alkalies.
It has been admitted by eminent geologists that the diamond proceeded from the slow decomposition of vegetable material, and even animal matter, as the requisite carbon could be obtained from either source. But they have also strenuously maintained that the gem was formed under the same conditions of heat as produced the metamorphism of argillaceous and arenaceous schists, these schists being supposed to have once been altered from shales impregnated with carbonaceous substances of organic origin. To this theory the revelations of the microscope offer decisive objections, since this instrument shows that there has been no action of heat in the formation of the stone, for the vegetable remains often detected in the interior of the mineral forbid the development of any considerable degree of caloric. Therefore, as there is no evidence of the influence or effect of heat upon these organic matters within the diamond, the theory must be abandoned.
Geologists have been, perhaps, too tenacious in their views of the origin of many of the rocks that compose the earth’s crust, and especially in maintaining that many crystalline rocks are as old as the dawn of creation. We know that some of these minerals may be produced artificially at the present day, and that the forces that arranged all rocks of a high molecular organization are still in force.
We sometimes speak of old crystalline rocks with the inference that their age is beyond comparison, and therefore undetermined. Yet the microscope is constantly lessening the force of these views by revealing prodigious numbers of minute and animal forms in fossil condition in various kinds of crystalline rocks.
We also observe that various forms of silex have been deposited on the earth in recent periods of its history, and even since the appearance of animal life, for we find their remains transformed into agate. Thus it is evident that nature still possesses the power to deposit certain forms of mineral substances.
Arago and Biot, reasoning from the energy of the refractive power of the diamond, were inclined to believe that it contained hydrogen. Sir Humphrey Davy suspected the presence of oxygen, but sought for it in vain after many careful experiments. Chaucourtois, however, deriving a theory from chemical results, came to the view that the stone is derived by the humid process from a hydrocarburet. Reasoning from the process of forming sulphur from hydro-sulphuretted emanations, he believed that in the humid oxidation of a carburetted hydrogen the hydrogen is oxidized, while part of the carbon becomes carbonic acid, and the rest remains as carbon and may crystallize into diamond.
Supposing this hypothesis to be correct, where do you find the required materials for the formation of the diamond? the reader may ask. At the bottom of these lagoons the decomposition of organic matter furnished abundant means for the production of the gem. Carbonic acid is everywhere produced from the decomposition of animal and vegetable matter. It is constantly evolved from the earth, and has the property of decomposing many of the hardest rocks. It is the cause of that mysterious decay which Dolomieu called “La maladie du granite.”
In carburetted hydrogen we have the united force of two of the most active substances known as organogens, or generators of organic bodies. But of the vast range of their properties, their affinities, and their interior changes we are still profoundly ignorant. We may, however, easily recognize the fact that their combinations and also almost every other chemical compound may be decomposed by electricity or galvanism.
Here then we have a clew, though perhaps distant, to the formation of the gem. Is not the production of drops of water by passing the electric spark through a mixture of hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen suggestive of the manner in which the diamond might be formed from carburetted hydrogen? It is true this experiment in the laboratory has failed to produce the transparent and crystalline form of carbon, although it has thrown down the element in an amorphous state. This failure is by no means decisive, for many of the simple acts of nature are beyond the imitative power of man.
And then again the chemist may exclaim, “How is it possible for the gem to be produced in this manner, when the combination of these elementary bodies is always or nearly always attended with the development of a considerable degree of heat, while the diamond contains at times germs of organic matter? Would not these organic remains be destroyed during this process? On the contrary, they do not exhibit the least trace of the effect of combustion or even heat, and are as well defined as the insects in the fossil resins.” In reply we will point to the formation of fulgurites through the agency of the lightning without the evolution of heat.
History presents some almost incredible examples of the stupidity and obstinacy of mankind in the explanation of natural phenomena. It seems quite impossible that when the German philosopher Chladni, less than a century ago, asserted that meteorites were extra-terranean bodies, the Academies of Europe laughed at him in scorn. Several meteoric showers falling in Europe shortly after did not convince the bigoted philosophers. And when Pictet in 1802 read a paper before the French Institute in favor of the theory, he was insulted by his learned audience. It was not until a year afterwards, when the great meteoric shower occurred in Normandy, that Biot, deputized by the French Government, succeeded in convincing the most sceptical. Yet only a few years previous De Luc, the first meteorologist of Europe, the founder of geology, declared that he would not believe it even if a stone should fall at his feet from the skies. In 1751, Peysonnel presented to the Academy of Sciences at Naples an elaborate memoir in which he very plainly proved that the coral belonged to the animal and not the vegetable kingdom. But his admirable paper was hooted at by the European naturalists; and even the distinguished philosopher Reaumur declared that the idea which was advanced was really too absurd to be discussed.
When we come to review the hypotheses of science during the last century, we shall feel more inclined to be generous and flexible in our views of natural phenomena.
“There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
The nodular or globular forms of the gem present no serious objection to the idea of vegetable or animal origin; and we may refer for argument to the calcareous nodules of the old red sandstone. These concretionary and radiated masses are merely sarcophagi of animal remains; and their arrangement plainly shows the chemical influences of decaying animal matter and also the multiple and varied effect of crystalline attraction and electric force. Can we say that the crystallized diamonds occurring in well-defined placers are any more remarkable than the little globular petrifactions found in the cretaceous formation and known as the Coscinopora globularis, and which nature provided with a perforation so that ancient man adopted them as ornaments in place of beads?
We are often reminded by the antiquary of the remarkable foresight or acuteness of the ancient poet Lucretius in his explanation of certain natural phenomena which have since been verified by modern science. But of all the heaven-inspired dreamers none have come nearer the truth in terrestrial matters than the Arabian poet Fizee, who wrote:—
“The sun from whom the seven seas obtain pearls,
The black stone from his rays obtains the jewel,
The mine from the correcting influence of his beams obtains gold.”
Plato believed that the gems were produced by a sort of vivifying spirit descending from the stars. It is undoubtedly from the influence of the solar forces and the magnetic and electric currents which are constantly playing through the crust of the earth that the gems derive their origin.
These phenomena of the earth’s vitality are manifested in their greatest force along certain elliptics, which may be traced over the true gem districts of Asia, Africa, and Brazil, and in marked contrast to adjacent territories. The miners in South Africa, disturbed by the severe whirlwinds and frequent thunder-storms, soon began to imagine that the excessive electric action had something to do with the creation of the gems they sought. Mr. Voysey, Geologist to the India Survey, also observed the very marked telluric action in the diamond formations of India, and moreover that the process of crystallization took place there with wonderful rapidity. So convinced was this keen observer of the present reproduction of gems in the alluvial soil or conglomerate that he commenced to collect the proofs of recrystallization. Unfortunately for science, Mr. Voysey died shortly after he adopted these views. Dr. Buchanan, another traveller who visited many of the mines of India, was impressed with this idea; and he was assured by the miners all over India that the regeneration of diamonds is always going on in the peculiar gravel. In proof of their statements, many men were then engaged in working over the débris that had been examined many years before. An interval of fifteen years was sufficient in their estimation to reproduce new gems, at least to a certain extent. This reproduction, or rather, we will say, assertion of a reproduction, reminds one of the mysterious action of the nitre beds, which yield rich returns after a rest of a few years, and especially those which occur among rocks which are destitute of potash.
It is to the learned Abbé Haüy we owe the theory that crystals are made up of an assemblage of minute parts or molecules, each having the same definite form. To the diamond especially this hypothesis may be applied, since it is composed of thin laminæ covering or concealing its primary form. With the aid of the skill of the artisan we can remove these coverings one after the other, until the definite and elementary form of the crystal be revealed. In the time of Louis XIV. it was thought that the size of diamonds might be increased by placing them in certain solutions, as crystals of salt are enlarged by immersing them in solutions of the same substance. But the difficulty then was to find the required liquid; and even at the present day we have not yet succeeded in discovering the composition of the water of crystallization of crystals of quartz or topaz, although Nature has shown the fluid to us in the cavities of certain crystals.
These curious speculations which were discussed in the days of the “Grand Monarque” are again revived by the theory that gold nuggets are not only deposited from aqueous solutions, but are actually increasing in size under certain influences and conditions.
But where does this metal come from? the inquirer may ask. From a variety of sources, we may reply. Does not the water of the ocean contain it in appreciable quantities, and did not M. Sage extract it from the ashes of certain burned vegetable substances? We also know for a certainty that iron is produced by vegetable vitality, but we will not attempt to explain the manner or whence the material is primarily derived. Cosmic dust or the invisible atoms of the atmosphere may be the source. The origin of the gold nuggets and the particles of gold-dust in the well-defined placers, as advanced in the hypotheses of Raymond and Murray within the past few years, is connected very closely with the theory of the recent formation of diamonds in similar placers.
In connection with this theme, it is proper to make a digression in explanation of the condition and formation of the gold placers, as they seem to be highly suggestive of the depositions of the diamond placers. Gold is often found in the same strata with the diamonds, and the presence of the one sometimes indicates the deposition of the other. But this is not invariably the fact. Yet the peculiar formation in which the metal and the gem occur leads the geologist to similar trains of reasoning when seeking to explain their presence in the tertiary strata of very recent times. It has been generally supposed that all alluvial gold is the result of disintegration of the old crystalline rocks. But we now distinguish placer gold into two kinds, as the alluvial and that which results from decomposition of quartz reefs. The distinction between these two qualities of the same metal arises from differences which are quite strongly marked. The alluvial gold is generally much purer than the reef gold; and the reefs rarely, if ever, contain nuggets. The appearance of the nuggets and particles from the true placers, in comparison with the gold-dust evidently set free by aqueous action, is suggestive of a theory that they have been deposited by different agencies.
It has been suggested by Mr. Selwyn, the Government Geologist of Victoria, while studying these differences, that the gold nuggets found in the drift may have been deposited from solutions containing gold by means of electric and chemical agencies. Mr. Skey, analyst to the New Zealand Geological Survey, has recently come to similar conclusions from his researches on the subject. The theory is well illustrated by the formation of crystals and masses of iron pyrites from solutions of that metal; and as gold is often found associated, free and uncombined, in these pyritiferous depositions, there is sufficient evidence to believe there may be some connection in the manner of formation.
From the results of certain chemical experiments in the laboratory, it would appear that organic matter is one of the necessary chemical agents for the decomposition of some of the solutions of gold. Therefore, if we assume this hypothesis to have a positive bearing upon this question, the abundance of organic matter occurring in the gravel beds adds to its weight as an argument. Selwyn found in the gold-bearing drifts of Australia quantities of fragments of wood, roots of trees, and other organic débris to serve as nuclei, or as reagents for the reduction of mineral solutions. We may introduce as evidence the formation of iron pyrites in crystalline forms, which is taking place at the present day under the action of sea-water. The metal in these instances replaces the organic structure of wood, or assumes definite forms with a particle of organic matter as a nucleus.
The formation of gold nuggets from solutions of the metal is by no means as wonderful or difficult of explanation as some other phenomena witnessed in metallurgy. The strange play of pseudomorphism is well defined in some instances, if not well understood. Here we observe that the peculiarity of form may be rigidly adhered to, while the composition is completely changed. In the waters of certain copper mines, drills, rings, and bars of iron that have accidentally been left have in course of time become transformed into pure copper. The iron of the implements has changed places with the atoms of copper held in solution.
In connection with this interesting theory, there are some puzzling facts to be deduced from the phenomena of the auriferous sand beds of some of the rivers of Europe. The gold placers along the coast of the Danube and the Rhine are situated far from the mountains, the supposed sources of the metal, and there are also wide barren districts intervening. The river Tesino affords no gold in its sands until its waters have passed through and beyond Lake Maggiore. From these and other examples, it is quite evident that the gold which appears in these river beds has been derived from the placers through which the rivers have passed, and not from quartz reefs in the distant mountainous regions. The situation of these placers, with the evenness and regularity of their deposits, also the absence of auriferous ledges among the contiguous rocks, permit the observer to indulge in the idea that the gold may have been deposited from solutions and not from the decomposition of crystalline rocks. We certainly have sufficient evidence to object to that final explanation which ascribes all these depositions to aqueous action in distant times, and to the abrasion of primitive mountains, the evidence of whose existence is alone and doubtfully afforded by the débris which form the strata of the gold and diamond placers. The ancients long ago noticed the deposition of gold in the beds of rivers; hence the phrase “The gold-breeding sands of Pactolus.”
It has been a favorite theory with many persons of a philosophic turn of mind that all organic forms were created upon the earth not by mere chance or hap-hazard, nor by what have been called by the early geologists “freaks of nature,” but, on the contrary, with some definite intent on the part of the Creator, and perhaps for the welfare of mankind. Some of these far-sighted thinkers have advanced their views so far as to maintain that even obscure animal and vegetable forms may have some indirect or distant effect upon the well-being of man. We all must admit that it is indeed a beautiful hypothesis, even if it be contested by stern and savage arguments. But if we indulge in this manner of reasoning, there seems to be hardly a limit in natural philosophy in which we may not seek for evidence.
Can we not include the subject of our treatise among those things which are supposed to have some influence upon the moulding of human character? Certainly its geological age, its origin, the beauties and wonders of its physical properties, and their application to art and science as well as to the wants of society, furnish evidence to sustain an inference.
But how can a cold, inanimate object like a gem influence the condition or expansion of the human intellect? the rigid materialist may say. The gems, he will maintain, apply only to the superficial wants of man, and directly tend to degrade rather than elevate our natural morals; that they are articles of commerce, and that commerce debases our natural instincts.
On the contrary, we may say that the beautiful in nature of whatever degree is calculated to assist in the development of mental culture; and without these beautiful lessons and examples constantly spread out before us, man would always have remained in a state of utter barbarism. As we look back upon the history of life, how many of the triumphs of human architecture may be traced to the suggestions arising from the observance of the varied forms of nature! Nearly all of the beauties of the Gothic or Grecian styles may be found existing in the fossil relics of by-gone ages or even in the multiple forms of existing vegetation. What grand deductions Newton derived from his studies of the glories of the opal and the iridescent gleams of the soap-bubble!
Let us follow our theme a little longer. In reviewing the fragmentary remains of the early periods of the earth’s history, the observer will admit that there has been a marked progress in even vegetable life as well as in the animal. For in the primitive ages we find the non-flowering plants were more numerous than the flowering species. Therefore, in contemplating the precedence of succession of animal and vegetable life, the thought naturally occurs to us that perhaps the most delicate and beautiful of all our flowers elate from recent geological periods.
We may also apply this hypothesis to the gems, and perhaps maintain that they too have arrived at perfection by progressive stages. The corundum, for instance, in the primitive rocks is never so pure and perfect as the nodules and crystals found in the true gem strata of recent formations. The emerald of the limestone is also incomparably above the beryls of the granites. The spinels, the chrysoberyls, the zircons, and the topazes of the gem beds are generally far superior to those found in the old crystalline rocks. There are, however, some plain exceptions to this plausible theory; and the finest of the tourmalines are found in cavities in granite ledges that appear to be of an early age.
We are also sometimes inclined to think that color in the early ages of terrestrial life was wanting in the rich hues which now deck animate nature. For of all the relics of the old geologic forms that are preserved to us their colors are either greatly faded or were at first faintly painted. Even in the tertiary division the hues are not beautiful. The shells, however, exhibit a trace of the pearly hue of the nacre, which may once have shone as brightly as in the modern mollusca. Some of the fossil fishes display a gleam of the silver tints that now glisten on the sides of the living species. Fossil corals preserved in the marble, however, have retained the beauty of form but lost all delicacy of hue, if they ever possessed any. Still, absence of bright and glowing colors of the animals in a fossil state is by no means conclusive evidence that nature was then devoid of external decoration. For we may see on every side how the beautiful hues of animal and vegetable life may fade and disappear altogether on the suspension of vital activity; and also how the process of solidification and petrifaction may modify or even obliterate all traces of organic color. It is, however, a fact that the richest-colored gems and minerals are found near the surface of the earth, as though they required the direct influence of the solar rays, like the finest varieties of colored coral and the gorgeous flowers of vegetation.
In reflecting upon these phenomena, and in seeking for the causes that led to the creation of the diamond, and sifting down the evidence that science has patiently brought to light, we are naturally led to philosophic musings. It is a singular reflection that much of our commercial greatness is derived from luxuriant vegetations of early ages of the earth’s history. How much pleasure, how many of the comforts of civilization and even the necessities of life, do we owe to the extinct fauna of by-gone ages! Even invalid man, seeking to restore the exhausted fountains of his shattered nature in the waters of some of the sulphur springs, quaffs the life-restoring principles from the mineral and animal débris of the lower ocean of the old red sandstone. Here, then, is a happy adaptation of the vague and empty theory of transmigration of the ancients,—the metempsychosis of Empedocles. Certain elements imprisoned in the earth for ages return again at last to reanimate exhausted man and improve his social life. The same agency in recent times, and by natural though mysterious laws, has produced from similar materials the gem, which seems to be quite as necessary for the superficial wants of mankind as gold or silver.
In studying the earth’s history and examining the successive phases of its development, we are insensibly led to the idea that all these stages, seemingly progressive, never retrograde, were for a definite purpose, if not for the exclusive benefit of mankind. For it is only just before the introduction of man that some of the highest orders of vegetation, such as the Rosaceæ, appear on the earth. There is certainly a marked intent in the appearance of the pear, the apple, plum, cherry, peach, and other fruits, with the true grasses, late in the tertiary period.
We may also trace this suggestive progression in the development of even insect life. In the Silurian age the hum of the insect was unheard; and it was not until the oölitic period that this form of animal life appeared. A fossil gem—the amber—reveals the time of the birth of the insect dearest to man; and it was not until the eocene change that the earth heard for the first time
“The soft murmur of the vagrant bee.”
May we not also place in the same category of possible intents the late deposition of the diamond? It is not so very strange, after all, when we come to consider the vast field that lies within the range of the argument.