10 MODERN SCIENCE READEK 



ment are dried, carefully deposited on a slide and examined 

 under the microscope. Although many fragments of 

 crystals occur, it is remarkable I have never seen a complete 

 crystal. All appear shattered, as if on being liberated 

 from the intense pressure under which they were formed 

 they burst asunder. I have singular evidence of this 

 phenomenon. A fine piece of artificial diamond, carefully 

 mounted by me on a microscopic slide, exploded during 

 the night and covered the slide with fragments. This 

 bursting paroxysm is not unknown at the Kimberley 

 diamond mines. 



