HOW TO MAKE DIAMONDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13780, 19 June 1908, Page 5

HOW TO MAKE DIAMONDS.

THE FORMULA DISCLOSED, >." AN EXCELLENT HOAX." By Telegraph— Association— Copyright. (Received Jane 38. 11 p.m.) Paris, June IS. The case of M. Lemoine, the French engineer, charged with having swindled a South African mining-magnate (Sir Julius Wernher, of Wernher, Beit, and Co.) out of £64,000, by pretending to manufacture diamonds, was called upon to-day, but there was no appearance of prisoner, who is believed to have fled from France. • The envelope containing the formula which Lemoine sold to prosecutor was accordingly opened, and contained the following:— " Take powdered sugar of carbon, place it in a crucible, raise the temperature of the furnace to" 1700 or 1800 degrees centigrade, and thus obtain crystallisation. Next apply pressure to the lid, and the diamonds are then made." Experts describe the formula as an excellent hoax. Lemoine, in a letter to the magistrate, stated that the owner of the factory where he had gone to make, diamonds, in order to produce some to the Court, had impeded his experiments. If his experiments were brought to a successful conclusion elsewhere, he would reappear and confound his detractors. A warrant has been issued for his arrest. Lemoine, who a. few years ago was a canvasser for an advertising firm, has of late years lived 'luxuriously in a magnificent house in the Kuo Pigalle. While the public lias been amused by the many curious incidents of the case, there has been enough division of opinion among scientists to keep up interest.in the affair. Henry MoissAll, winner of the Nobel prize, who died recently, produced microscopic diamonds from iron and carbon in an electric furnace at a temperature of 7000 degrees, but they were of insignificant commercial value, and the majority of scientists say it is ridiculous to suppose, that Lemoine would succeed where Moissan failed. Nevertheless others, like Wertz, the eminent chemist, are of the opinion that it is not impossible to produce chemical diamonds if the operation is performed under sufficient pressure to the proper'solvent of carbon.