DIAMONDS AND DIAMOND CUTTING. 195 



There is no city or town in the United States 

 where the difficult and interesting process of dia- 

 mond cutting is carried on but in Boston. In com- 

 pany with Mr. Henry D. Morse, the originator of 

 this peculiar manufacture, we visited the factory 

 where the work is done, and the hour spent in in- 

 specting the process was full of interest. Diamond 

 cutting has been for years monopolized by Holland, 

 and in the city of Amsterdam some two thousand 

 men are constantly employed in the industry. 

 With the long experience, however, of these work- 

 men, some of the finest stones are very unskilfully 

 cut, and those brought to this country have been 

 placed in the hands of Mr. Morse to be recut and 

 perfected. 



The machinery employed in Holland for polish- 

 ing is ponderous and heavy, the framework holding 

 the wheels being braced and wedged, like the run- 

 ning gear of a country saw-mill. In the establish- 

 ment in this city a small iron-top table is used, with 

 solid iron supports and double bearings, so that the 

 polishing wheel,"being fixed in the centre, revolves 

 horizontally on a level with the surface of the table. 

 By this ingenious device, the work of Mr. Morse, 

 perfect steadiness is secured, and without the clumsy 

 machinery of the Dutch manipulators a greater de- 

 gree of accuracy is obtained. 



To cut a diamond is to form its surfaces so that 



