1887.] NEW-YORK MICROSCOPICAL SOCIETY. 55 



ing that they are running in all directions, and with these also 

 are seen the blood-vessels. 



On both sides of the tongue are the lower and upper maxillary 

 bones, in the form of cartilage, the masseters, which raise the 

 lower jaw for chewing, and the ducts, through which the water 

 is led to the gill-openings for respiration. 



THE NEW ARTIFICIAL RUBIES. 



BY GEORGE F. KUNZ. 



{FrofH " Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences," 

 October ^ih, 1886,/. 4.) 



The subject of artificial gems is at the present moment of con- 

 siderable interest, not only financially, but also as furnishing an 

 example of the manner in which the microscope is constantly 

 called into use by almost every profession. Early this summer, 

 the Syndicate des Diamants et Pierres Precieuses were informed 

 that certain stones, which had been sold as rubies from a new 

 locality, were suspected to be of artificial origin. They were put 

 upon the market by a Geneva house ; and it was surmised that 

 they were obtained by the fusion of large numbers of small 

 rubies, worth at the most a few dollars a karat, into one fine 

 gem worth from $1,000 to $2,500 a karat. 



Some of these artificial stones were kindly procured for me by 

 Messrs. Tiffany & Co. I was not, however, permitted to break 

 them for analysis, to observe the cleavage, or to have them cut 

 so that I could observe the optical axes more correctly. I would 

 at anytime have detected the artificial nature of this production 

 with a mere pocket lens, as the whole structure is that peculiar 

 to fused masses. Examination elicited the following facts : 

 The principal distinguishing characteristic between these and 

 the genuine stones is the presence in them of large numbers of 

 spherical bubbles, rarely pear-shaped, sometimes containing 

 stringy portions showing how the bubbles had moved. These 

 bubbles all have rounded ends, and present the same appearance 

 as those seen in glass or other fused mixtures. They are nearly 

 always in wavy groups or cloudy masses. When examined indi- 

 vidually they always seem to be filled with gas or air, and often 

 form part of a cloud, the rest having the waviness of a fused 



