THE ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXVII, Issue 8162, 25 January 1890, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND.

Tub origin of the diamond has boon a fruitful topic for speculation among scientists ; henco many contradictory theories have been advanced and argued with some show of reason, but after all that has been said and written, upon the subject we are still left pretty much in the dark. Some of the theories are very ingenious and interesting, though the amount of truth they embody remains to bo proved. It has been suggested that the vapours of carbon during the coal period may have been condensed and crystallised into the diamond; and again, the itacolumite, generally regarded as the matrix, was saturated with petroleum, winch, collecting iu nodules, formed the gem by gradual crystallisation. Newton believed it to have been a coagulated unctuous substance, of vegetable origin, and was sustained in the theory by many eminent philosophers, including Sir 1). Brewster, who believed the diamond was once a mass of gum, derived from certain species of wood, and that it subsequently assumed a crystalline form. Dana and others advance the opinion that it may have been produced by the slow decomposition of vegetable material, and even from animal matter. Burton says it is younger than gold, and suggests the possibility that it may still be in process of formation, with capacity of growth. Specimens of the diamond have been found to enclose particles of gold, an evidence, he thinks, that its formation was more recent than that of the precious metal. The theory that the diamond was formed immediately from carbon by the action of heat is opposed by another, maintaining that it could not have been produced in this way, otherwise it would have been consumed. But the advocates of this view were not quite on their guard against a surprise, for some quick-witted opponent has found by experiments that the diamond will sustain great heat without combustion