THE PRODUCTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF ARTIFICIAL 
PRECIOUS STONES. 
[With 3 plates.] 
By Nort Heaton, B. Sc., F.C. S. 
During recent years the production of artificial stones on a commer- 
cial scale has become an accomplished fact, and a great many miscon- 
ceptions and misleading statements have been made as to the relation 
which these productions bear to natural products on the one hand and 
imitations gems on the other. It may therefore be of some use to 
make the matter clear by describing as fully as circumstances permit 
what has been done in this direction and what has not been done; 
what is practicable and what is impracticable in the present state of 
our knowledge. 
I suppose there are few subjects of interest from so many points of 
view as that of precious stones. The beauty and rarity of fine speci- 
mens has from time immemorial rendered them the most treasured of 
possessions. With the romance that surrounds this aspect of the 
question we have nothing whatever to do to-night, except to bear in 
mind that on account of their great value men have for centuries 
strained their ingenuity to solve the mystery that surrounds the origin 
of such stones, and amass wealth by producing them at will instead of 
by the laborious and highly speculative process of digging for them 
in the earth. 
Until the development of modern science and accurate methods of 
investigation this problem resisted all attempts at solution, and it is, 
in fact, only within the last few years that the artificial production of 
any species of gem on a commercial scale has become practicable. 
Of course, one can cut the Gordian knot by preparing a colorable 
imitation of the real thing, but that is quite another matter, and I want 
to make it quite clear at this point that I propose to limit the term “arti- 
ficial’ to such productions as possess the same chemical composition 
and physicial constants as the natural stones, differing from them only 
in minute details consequent upon their being produced in the labora- 
1 Read before the Royal Society of Arts, Wednesday, April 26, 1911. Reprinted by permission from 
Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, London, No. 3049, Vol. 59, Apr. 28, 1911. 
217 
