THE DIAMOND AND OTHER PRECIOUS STONES. 



Ey M. Baeixet, of the Institute of France. 



Translated for the Smithsonian Institution 



BY JOHN STEARNS, M. D. 



The diamond, called by the Greelis " adamas," from its hardness and 

 iufrangihility, has attracted the attention of amateurs of i^recious stones 

 from the most remote antiquity. 



In regard to hardness, says Lucretius, diamonds are placed in the 

 first rank, as they resist the blow of a hammer. 



"Adamantina sax.i 

 Prima acie coustant, ictus contemnere siieta." 



The second of these peculiarities is much more easily contested than 

 the first; for notwithstanding all the fabulous assertions of ancient 

 authors, the diamond, which scratches all other bodies and can be 

 scratched by none, is easily broken by percussion, and is susceptible of 

 cleavage, that is to say, of being readily divided by pressing- steadily the 

 sharp blade of a steel instrument in the direction of the natural seams 

 of the stone. 



When the rude Helvetians captured the treasures which were found 

 in the tent of Charles the Bold, more sumptuous than those of the King, 

 they divided with their hatchets some of the diamonds of this prince, to 

 the great detriment of their value, as the entire stones were worth much 

 more than the pieces into wliich they were divided. If we examine the 

 many compilations from the ancients made at the time of the renaissance, 

 w'e sball find a mass of undigested learning on the subject of gems. 

 Notwithstanding the uncertainty of the names which he applies to many 

 of the precious stones, Pliny is still highly esteemed as a compiler from 

 ancient works now lost, and as an author of the first class. It was he 

 who dared to undertake the composition of a history of nature analogous 

 to what had been done before his time in regard to nations. The term 

 natural history has become so familiar to us that the idea it conveyed, 

 namely, a history of all things that contribute to make np a world, 

 minerals, vegetables, and animals, has almost entirely lost the original 

 magnitude of its signification. And in this connection it is worth while 

 to pause for a moment to remark that science in its progress, as it has 

 become more real and important, has gradually become more and more 

 modest. Where, as with the Greeks, the word imture, physls^ signified 

 the generation or origin of beings, with us it is restricted to the system 



