He Burned A Diamond

How would yon like to burn a two jarat diamond merely for the sake of iemonstrating a faot in soience? Professsr Henry Miles George of Loudon did that very thiug two years ago. "What I did was not a new experiment," said the professor, "and was made at the request of a wealthy young oountryman of mine who believed that lio was born to be a scientist. Whether he was or not is neither here nor there. His flrst experiment was costly. "He wanted to sattsfy himself that the diamond possessed an inflammable quality, and that af ter being burned it left no residue. We bnmed the stone in my laboratory and to the young man's complete satisfaction. After it was consumed there was absolutely 110 ash. The combustión was complete, and there was an absolute although expeusive proof that the diamond consists of pure caxbon. "The inflammability of the diamond," contiuued Professor George, "was not known till the middle of the seventeeutli century. The ancients were firmly couvinced that a diamond coald not either be burned or broken. This was disproved in 1670 or thereabouts, when a f our carat stone was consuined in the flame of a blowpipe. I think it was iu Rome. The Grand Duke of Florence, in 1694, thought that fire would reveal the secret of the diamond's composition, and he caused a stone to be placed under the focus of concentrated sun rays. The diamond cracked, corusoated and disappeared. These experimenta, as you will readily understand, are not made very frequently. In the interest of science they have been necessary, but as we have a very complete record of the resulta in several experiments and they all agree there is no necessity for any further expenditure of money in that particular direction. No, I don't think my young friend became a Bcientist. He married a music hall