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POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
conditions of diamond-making, but even if be bas gone to work 
after one of Nature's ways, it is far from necessary to assume 
that all diamonds have been fashioned in this particular manner. 
It was an old alchemical dogma that ‘Vulcan is a second 
nature, imitating concisely what the first takes time, and 
circuit to effect.' Obedient to this maxim, Mr. Hannay has 
pressed Vulcan into his service, but a good deal that we know 
about the natural diamond in certain localities tends to show 
that Vulcan has not always presided at its birth. Thus an 
eminent chemist recently said, ‘ W e are entirely ignorant of the 
mode of its formation in Nature. The only thing which may be 
regarded as certain is that it has not been formed at a high 
temperature.' 
After all, the genesis of the diamond is a subject of only 
scientific interest ; the practical question for unscientific folk is 
whether Mr. Hannay can or cannot make his product in sufficient 
quantity to disturb the diamond market. Owners of gems, 
however, may be comforted by the assurance that, at present, 
the artificial specimens are small in size and costly to procure. 
When the chemist has completed his elaborate experiment, and 
opened the iron tube which has just been drawn from the 
furnace, he finds that his diamonds are not, like Sinbad’s, 
‘ of a surprising bigness.' They are, in fact, rather of a sur- 
prising smallness. But, were they no bigger than pins’ heads, 
the experiment would still be a memorable scientific triumph. 
Practically, however, there is all the difference in the world 
between a laboratory experiment and a manufacturing industry. 
At the same time, it is of course possible that the recent 
Glasgow experiments may be merely the grains of mustard-seed 
which shall be eventually developed into a fruitful undertaking 
of commercial significance. Nothing, however, is more certain 
than that Mr. Hannay commenced his researches without the 
slightest regard to what Bacon calls ‘ the applying of knowledge 
to lucre.' 
