204 PROCEEDINGS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY. 



VIII. 



FURTHER OBSERVATIONS UPON THE OCCURRENCE 

 OF DIAMONDS IN METEORITES. 



By Oliver Whipple Huntington, Ph. D. 



Presented October 11, 1893. 



Ever since Haidinger, in 1846, described a cubic form of graphite 

 in the Arva iron, and Rose suggested that the crystals were pseudo- 

 morph after diamond,* the possibility of finding the gem itself in 

 meteorites has been conceived. 



In 1886, H. Carvill Lewis, after his study of material from the 

 greatest depths of the South African diamond mines, predicted the 

 discovery of diamonds in meteorites.! Hence it was no great surprise 

 when graphite having the hardness and form of the diamond was 

 found by Jerofeieff and Latschinoff in the Novo Urei meteorite. J No 

 colorless material, however, seems to have been found till E. Wein- 

 schenk described, in 1889, a minute quantity of transparent grains 

 from the Arva iron, hard enough to scratch the ruby, and burning in 

 oxygen to form carbonic acid gas.§ 



A fresh interest was added to the study of the subject two years 

 ago when Dr. A. E. Foote brought numerous pieces of the Canon Diablo 

 iron from Arizona, and Professor Koenig of Philadelphia announced 

 that a piece of it contained diamonds, his statement being based upon 

 the appearance of a black vitreous substance lining a cavity, and 

 having a hardness beyond the sapphire. Dr. Foote says in his paper 

 on the subject, " The most interesting feature is the discovery for the 

 first time of diamonds in meteoric iron." || He then refers to the cubic 



* Pogg. Ann., Bd. LXVII. pp. 437-439, 1846. 



t British Association, 1886, p. 667. 



J Verhandl. der kais. russ. Mineral. Gesellschaft, 2d Series, Vol. XXIV. 

 p. 263, 1888. 



§ Annalen des k.-k. naturhistorischen Hofmuseums, Vol IV. p. 93, 1889. 



|| Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 

 Vol. XL. p. 4. 



