From an Easy ChairLankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
History
From an Easy Chair
Lankester, E. Ray (Edwin Ray), Sir
Natural history; Science
A few diamonds of small size have been found in the Ural Mountains,
otherwise they are not natural products of the northern hemisphere. It
is in India, Australia, South America, and South Africa that they are
picked up, either in beds of streams, or in peculiar volcanic mud, or
embedded in even harder rock. Many are in a condition of severe strain
when found, and contain minute cavities filled with liquid carbonic
acid. They are liable, in consequence, to break or even fly into
powder when warmed by the hand or struck. Though usually colourless,
diamonds may be yellow, green, blue, or red, and the rays of radium
cause colourless diamonds to become coloured. Some diamonds, but not
all, are phosphorescent--that is to say, like the well-known luminous
paint--after exposure to strong light they acquire the power of shining
themselves for a certain time when removed to a dark chamber. And the
curious thing is that, though themselves colourless, some give out
blue, some green, some yellow, and some red light. The most wonderful,
however, in this respect are the rare diamonds which become luminous
merely by rubbing, and leave phosphorescent streaks on the cloth with
which they are rubbed. This property is similar to the phosphorescence
shown by other kinds of crystals when heated or when simply fractured.
Diamonds are readily distinguished from paste by the Röntgen rays,
since they are transparent to those rays, whilst paste (or glass)
is opaque to them. Radium also causes diamonds, but not paste, to
phosphoresce. All diamonds are not equally hard, though they are the
hardest of stones, and harder than steel, but not harder than the metal
tantalum. Some Australian diamonds are known (from Inverel, New South
Wales) which are so hard that at one time they could not be cut and
polished; but only four years ago the rapidity of the wheels used in
these processes was greatly increased, and these terribly hard diamonds
were brought into subjection.
Thus it is clear that there are many extraordinary features of interest
about the diamond, and that its brilliance and high price constitute
only a small part of its fascination.
10. _Science and Fisheries_
Science, the knowledge of the vast system of orderly, inexorable
activities under which we exist, and of which we, and all that we
can apprehend, are but more or less significant parts, is not only
to be regarded as a gratification of our curiosity, as food for our
imagination, and the basis of our philosophical theories. It is, in
addition to these, a thing of unparalleled importance to the immediate
daily welfare of every man, woman, and child, and upon its due
cultivation and use depend the future welfare, even the existence, of
whole races of mankind. It is a startling fact that so few of those
who undertake to lead and to legislate for the people of this country
have any real conviction, or even a dim understanding of this truth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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