THE MUSEUM. 



1 1.7 



Tient parts chemists succeeded in man- 

 ufacturing rubies and sapphires b}' 

 fusion, but the diamond always baffled 

 them. Evidently fusion (the applica- 

 tion of heat) was the means, but heat 

 dissipated carbon in the form of gas. 

 Here, then, was the difficulty. How 

 could heat be efficiently applied so as 

 to fuse and crystallze the carbon.' To 

 answer this, we must discover the na- 

 ture of tool we work with. What, 

 then, is heat.' Science tells us it is 

 matter in niotioiL It gives us the 

 same definition of light and electricity. 

 This definition advances us one step. 

 The application of heat, therefore, to 

 an amorphous (without shape) mass, 

 sets its atoms in motion and rear- 

 ranges them. Thus, synthetic chem- 

 istry built up the rubies and sapphires, 

 if it failed to produce the diamond. 

 Other means, therefore, must be em- 

 ployed to produce the rearrangement 

 of the carbon atoms. Light was of 

 no service since carbon absorbed it 

 greedily, and, like Dickens' little boy, 

 "asked for more" yet without being 

 changed. Electricity, therefore, must 

 solve the problem, or all our available 

 means will fail us. Electricity is 

 largely present with both heat and 

 light in all meteoric disturbances, 

 hence to electricity we turn. As is 

 widely recognized, we are only yet 

 cognizant of this powerful agent in its 

 infantile development, each year re- 

 vealing new phases of its power. 

 Electricity is present in the planetary 

 bodies, in space and in our earth. 

 Diamonds, we know, are found on our 

 globe, and have come to us from 

 space, as meteorites, yet we fail to see 

 the reasoning which declares diamonds 

 to be simply meteoric products. Can 

 electrical science help us in any way.' 

 While Swan, of Birkenhead, England, 

 was experimenting with the electric 

 light, he used as carbons filaments of 

 thread, thoroughly carbonized. These 

 were so fragile that he enclosed each car- 

 bon in a hermetically sealed glass globe, 

 first having produced a vacuum with- 

 in. Success attended his efforts. The 



accidental breaking of one of his 

 lamps, which had been in constant use 

 for some months, revealed to him that 

 the carbon, previously so fragile, was 

 now possessed of a tenacity surpassing 

 a metallic wire of the same thickness, 

 which tenacity he fouud to increase in 

 other carbons on a ratio with the time 

 under the electric current and the 

 volts employed. Here, then, must be 

 the solution of our difficulty. Given 

 a pure carbon enclosed in a vacuum 

 and subjected to a sufficiently power- 

 ful electric current, it is demonstrated 

 that (i) a rearrangement of its par- 

 ticles has taken place; (2) that greater 

 cohesion of these particles has been de- 

 veloped. Hence, we reason, this co- 

 hesion, if further increased, will so 

 modify the carbon structure as to ren- 

 der it ultimately impervious to light, 

 and from a black, fragile substance it 

 would reflect all the rays of light and 

 assume a crystalline form. 



Now, not to be too hasty, let us see 

 if the above conditions are given in 

 meteorites, for all will allow they are 

 to be found in our earth structure. 

 The discovery of diamonds in meteor- 

 ites has hitherto been in closed cav- 

 ities, which the super-heated mass 

 warrants us in supposing must be vac- 

 uous, and we already have noted the 

 presence of powerful electricity in con- 

 junction with all meteoric displays. 



Remarks on Some of the Birds 

 from Guadalupe Island. 



Taken from U. S. Government Surveys. 



By reference to the published cata- 

 logues of the various dealers we find 

 that the skins of Guadelaupe Birds are 

 seldom quoted hence we have thought 

 that possibly some description of what 

 is found on this lonely island whose 

 fauna is included in the U. S. may be 

 of interest. 



The collection of birds on which the 

 following descriptions are based were 

 taked by Dr. Palmer and very interest- 

 ing, from the fact that every one of 

 the resident species is distinct from 



