CAN DIAMONDS BE MADE?

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XL, Issue 10, 7 March 1908, Page 54

CAN DIAMONDS BE MADE?

An astonishing story of a man who says he can manufacture diamonds in an electric furnace comes from Paris. Lemoine, the inventor of the process, has been arrested on a charge of obtaining some £60,000 on false pretences from Sir Julius Wernher, the South African mining magnate, who had been led to believe in the genuineness of Lemoine’s results. The whole story reads like a weird fable, and the scientific world generally is very sceptical about M. Lemoine and his “ secret” ; but the inventor himself sticks tenaciously to his claim. He offered to undertake experiments in the presence of the magistrate, and to forfeit to Sir Julius Wernher the whole of his possessions if he should fail to produce diamonds in his furnace. He demanded, however, at the same time, that Sir Julius Wernher should make a similardeposit to be handed over to himself as damages if his experiments were conclusive. Sir Julius asked time for reflection, and after conferring ten minutes with his lawyer, agreed to deposit 400,0001'., (£ 16,000) in a bank on the above conditions. Lemoine thereupon asked to be immediately set at liberty on bail. The judge seemed disposed to grant this request: but Sir Julius Wernher refused. Lemoine claimed that no experiments were possible in that case. “It is very difficult,” he said “to manufacture diamonds. You don’t succeed every time;” The question of seizure of the document containing the secret deposited in a London bank then arose. Lemoine opposed the idea indignantly, urging that the magistrate had no.right to violate a contract freely made between hinr and Sir Julius Wernher. He immediately telegraphed to the London bank prohibiting the removal of the paper deposited with it in June, 1905, and its transfer to any Paris agency of the bank. Wrangling went on after this for some time. Lemoine over and over again renewed his offer, but would abate no jot of it, while Sir Julius Wernher remained as inexorable. At last Lemoine cried: “ Well, how much will you give me for the secret?’ Sir Julius only repeated that he was ready to deposit £16,000, which would make £BO,OOO with what Lemoine had already received. Lemoine laughed: “ What do you take mo for? Do you remember our agreement? You told me yourself that we would propose the sale of my secret to the De Beers Company, and put the price at £5,000,000.” It was Sir Julius's turn to laugh: £BO,OOO or nothing. And I am doing it handsomely. Your secret is a hoax."

If Lemoine is not sincere in his protestations and his offers, he is putting up an amazing “ bluff.” Several people who have witnessed the diamond-making experiments profess to believe them genuinely successful. Mr. Jackson, a London financier, when examined by the magistrate, stated that he had witnessed two successful experiments in Lemoine’s .laboratory in the Rue Lecourbe. The first time he was accompanied by a friend. Mr. Lemoine was stripped to the waist, so that no trickery was possible. He handed the materials to Mr. Jackson, who himself laid them in the receptacle, and when it was taken out of the electric oven, and cooled in a bucket of water, Mr.. Jackson opened it, and found twenty five small diamonds in it. Lord Armstrong and M. Sabes were present when Mr. Jackson witnessed the second trial. The same precautions against trickery were adopted, and when the receptacle had been put into water they carried the bucket away in a motor-car. They had no tools to open the receptacle, but after M. Lemoine had left them to prepare tea thej forced it open and saw thirty diamonds lying in it. Taking these diamonds they started for London, where they showed them to a jeweller, who was willing to buy them if he had a certificate proclaiming their mining origin. Then they went to an expert, who, after examining the diamonds, said, “ They come from the Jagersfontein mine. 1 often see some like them,” and he gave them the certificate, which satisfied the jeweller, who bought them, adding, “ If you have others like them I shall take them at the same figure.” Mr. Jackson concluded by saying that he regarded the experiments as quite genuine and convincing, so, “ When, on Christmas Day, Sir Julius Wernher, who had asked for an interview, told me that M. Lemoine was an imposter, that he had had him arrested, and asked me to join my complaint to his, I refused point-blank.” Masses of conflicting evidence are accumulating in this extraordinary case, and the magistrate finds himself in a serious dilemma. The simplest way to a decision would be the production of M. Lemoin’es formula, which was deposited in a London bank. But the inventor refuse to reveal his secret, and the magistrate has apparently no power to order the document to be surrendered.