GEMS, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL 



leverage the holders which support the diamonds are 

 held against little metal projections on either side of the 

 trough. 



"The dust which falls through the metal sieve is 

 carefully preserved and used later on for polishing pur- 

 poses. The dust is known as ' diamond powder/ 

 and has exactly the same appearance as slate-pencil 

 dust. Thus, upon the principle of ' diamond cuts 

 diamond,' the stones are roughly fashioned by the bruter 

 into whatever symmetrical form he has designed them 

 to be when finished. 



"Another method of obtaining the same result is 

 to rotate one of the diamonds in a lathe and literally 

 to turn it into the desired shape by means of the other 

 stone held against it. 



"The small polished flats, known as facets, with 

 which the surface of a diamond is covered, are added 

 subsequently, thus forming another part of the process. 



"When the bruter has completed his part of the work, 

 the diamonds are handed to an attendant, who is 

 seated at a bench in front of two flaring Argand burn- 

 ers. Small brass basins, known as 'dops/ which vary 

 in size from one to three inches in diameter, are placed 

 in the flames, and each dop is filled with a mixture of 

 tin and lead in the proportion of one part of tin to two 

 of lead. When this metal has assumed a semi-molten 

 state, it is fashioned into the shape of a cone by means 

 of a large pair of soft-iron tongs, upon the apex of 

 which cone one of the bruted diamonds is carefully 

 embedded. 



"After the diamond has been carefully adjusted, 



[307] 



