THE ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND.

New Zealand Times, Volume LI, Issue 8964, 15 April 1890, Page 7

THE ORIGIN OF THE DIAMOND.

The origin of the diamond has beeo a fruitful topic for speculation among scientists; hence many contradictory theories have been advanced and argued with some show of reason; bat after all said and written upon the subject we are left pretty much in the dark. Some of the theories are very ingenious and interesting, though the amount of truth they embody remains to be 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 itaeolumite, generally regarded as the _ matrix, was saturated with petroleum, which, collecting in nodules, formed the gem by gradual cryetalisation. 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 D. Brewster, who believed the diamond was once a mass of gum, derivedfrom certain species of wood, and that it subsequently assumed a crystaline 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 be still 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 ot this view were not quite on their guard against surprise, for some quick-witted opponent has found by experiments that the diamond will sustain great heat without combustion. —Invention.