486 



NATURE 



[February 21, 1918 



to manufactures — or whether the individual be left 

 to the operation of patent law, it is difficult to 

 conceive of an inquiry of more urg-ency or import- 

 ance than one which would enter fully into the 

 merits of the various systems which have not only 

 been found successful in practice, but have also 

 failed to pass the preliminary stage of suggestion. 

 A report from a competent authority would be of 

 the greatest benefit and would repay many times 

 the expense and trouble involved in its prepara- 

 tion. The Committee of the Privy Council for 

 Scientific and Industrial Research has the means 

 within its power, and it is earnestly to be hoped 

 that it may see fit to advise men of science, 

 academic bodies, and commercial syndicates as to 

 the best procedure for the encouragement of 

 scientific investigation and the application of 

 results to daily needs. 



PRECIOUS STONES AND PLATINUM 

 IN 1916. 



TO the twenty-fifth volume of "The Mineral 

 Industry," which deals with the conditions 

 obtaining in the year 1916, Dr. G. F. Kunz, the 

 well-known gem expert, contributes not only, as 

 for many years past, the chapter on precious 

 stones, but also another on that most precious 

 of metals, platinum. ^ In passing we may remark 

 that the scope of this annual publication is not 

 so wide as its title would indicate, the subject 

 being considered entirely from the point of view 

 of the United States. 



There is no better or surer indicator of the 

 state of the trade of a country than the business 

 done in jewels. It is not, therefore, surprising to 

 learn that the imports of precious stones into the 

 United States during the year under review 

 reached the remarkable total of ten million 

 pounds sterling, this amount being nearly double 

 that of the preceding year, and exceeding by more 

 than one-tenth the figures for what was at the 

 time considered the exceptionally prosperous year 

 1913. About two-thirds of the chapter on precious 

 stones is taken up with the precious stone par 

 excellence — the diamond. During the year the 

 diamond trade with the United States was very 

 much interfered with by the operations of 

 German submarines, more, however, on account 

 of the considerable rise in the rates of insurance 

 than because of the actual losses suffered. At the 

 beginning of the year the Diamond Syndicate 

 raised the price of rough stones by another 5 per 

 cent. This powerful organisation has secured 

 complete control of the diamond market by acting 

 as agents for the sale of the produce of the 

 Premier mine, and by arranging with the Govern- 

 ment of the Union of South Africa to purchase the 

 stones found on the sands of the shore of what 

 was once known as German South-west Africa. 

 We are reminded that diamonds, besides their 

 ornamental use, play an important part in in- 



xL^'V"^'*!? Production of Precious Stones for the Year iqi6." (2) 

 Platinum for the Y.ar ,9,6." (Ne» York : McGraw-Hill Book Company 



Inc. ; London : Hill Publishing Co., Ltd. 



NO. 2521, VOL. 100] 



dustry, and especially the manufacture of muni- 

 tions of war, by the fact that in November, 1916 

 — none too soon — the British Government placed 

 diamonds suitable for industrial purposes with 

 emery, corundum, carborundum, and all other 

 abrasive materials, whether natural or artificial,^ 

 on the list of absolute contraband. 



Inasmuch as practically all the diamonds placed 

 on the market pass through London, it may 

 appear strange, except to those acquainted with 

 the formerly rigid restrictions of the powerful 

 diamond-cutters' union, that diamond-cutting 

 should have so long languished in this country. 

 The upheaval caused by the war has brought 

 about a change in this respect. Most of the 

 Belgian cutters fled from Belgium on the fall of 

 Antwerp, and many of them came to England. 

 With their aid a number of factories have been 

 started in London, and particularly in Birming- 

 ham. Amsterdam, too, benefited by the ruin of 

 the diamond industry of Antwerp, but owing to 

 the shortage of coal a large number of the small 

 factories there were closed by a committee of the 

 trade, and the business was concentrated in the 

 large establishments. 



The improved demand for diamonds brought 

 about a revival of business in the South African 

 fields, and the alluvial deposits were very active ; 

 the De Beers Company raised very little blue 

 ground, the stones recovered coming almost 

 entirely from ground already on the floors. A 

 37-carat stone was found in the recently opened 

 Kameelfontein digging, the stones from which 

 have the peculiar opalescence characteristic of 

 those occurring in the Premier mine. Dr. Kunz 

 points out how little India, once the sole source 

 of diamonds, now contributes to the world's 

 supply. It is thought possible that the deep- 

 seated deposits have never been touched ; the 

 problem is attracting some attention, but whether 

 prospecting on a suitable scale would prove com- 

 mercially profitable is under present conditions 

 more than doubtful. 



A few interesting points may be gleaned from 

 the remaining pages of this chapter. A large, 

 though imperfectly formed, trapezohedron of 

 garnet, weighing 4763 kg. (loj lb.), was dis- 

 covered in the course of grading a property in 

 New York in 191 5. Rubies, to judge from the 

 experience of the Burma ruby mines, are slowly 

 recovering from the depression under which they 

 have for some years laboured, a depression largely 

 caused by the success that has attended the arti- 

 ficial manufacture of this stone. The demand for 

 sapphires continues steady. The Queensland out- 

 put was formerly wholly in German hands, and 

 for some tAvo years after the outbreak of war 

 operations were brought to a standstill; but an 

 opening has now been obtained on the London 

 market. It is interesting to note that recent ex- 

 periments have shown that the transparency of' 

 the Queensland stones is much improved if they 

 are subjected to a high temperature. 



The extraordinary rise in the value of platinum' 

 is a striking instance of what happens when an 



