Meteroite American Diamonds

Tlioiisïh diamoucls will never be an important product of the United States - omly an oecasional gem of this k'aid being pieked up here and there - such vast quantities of them are eoosunied liere that the geological survey lias thougiit it worth while to prepare a momograph on the subject, which wül eoon be issued. The f act has been established that the supposed diamonds found in meteorites aiear th Canon Diablo, in Arizoaa, are actually such. This is a matter of profound interest, indica ting, ias it does, that such stones exist on other planets. Some authroities assert that diamon3s - like coal, which is so nearly of the same Chemical constructiooi - could not psosibly come into existnce without previous vegeta.ble growth to genérate their material. For this reason they infer that the finding of the gems in the meteroites proves that there must have been vegetable life in the place whemce the meteroite, came. If thcre was vegetable lite there, it is a fair pre.-mmption tliat thère was animal lile also. All this niiy be nntriio, but it aïïimls th'j first gueasglimpse ever obtained ttito Ui" great est pi'olilcm that mantóntl has attempted to hamllo, namely, the tion -whrther lil'e exists n other ivnrlils than ours. It Bfeams strangë to take a couple of oönces of eharcoal in one's hand and to eon.sider that one is Uandling the pure material of the diamond. If you eould transform it into erystalline form, you coiüd eell those few piiirhes of Btuff for $1,000,000 perhaps. No ■wonder that ehemists are eager to discover the secret of effecting tliis change. To assert that they will never learn how to niake erystals of carbon "n-ould be absurd. By meaais of the voltaic battei-y real diamoaids of almost niicroscopic size have been .deposited ipon threads of platinum. But even if a successful process should be discovered, it might be that t.lie cost of making a diamond by it Avould be bigger than the price of e stcme of equal size and purity from tlie mines. One reoalls the experiineints of Prof. Sage, who turnedout gold pieces iai hls laboratory f rom gold extracted from the a-shes of certain burned vegetable substanees. The iresult was beautiful, scientlfically speaking, but the expense of making in this was one $5 piece was about $25. The valué of rough geras of all sorts produced in this country 'in 1893 was $50,000 dess thajn the output for the year bef ore. amounting to only $262,000. The decrease was niamly owtng to tlie industrial depression. Tlie precious stones of the United States aa-e sold in large parta to tourists, iio innrhase tliem as souvenirs of