In connection with these experiments it will be found interesting to read Balzac’s “Search for the Absolute,” in which it is told how after many ruinous attempts to produce a diamond by artificial means one, self-formed, is found in the old chemist’s laboratory after his death. The worth and romance of the old mines of Brazil and India are dwelt on by many of the writers of the past, and although diamonds were discovered in South Africa in the 18th Century, yet no important discoveries were made until 1867, when a large stone was found by children of a Dutch farmer, Mr. Jacobs, not far from their farm near Hopetown on the Orange River. Not knowing what the stone really was and attaching no value to it, Mrs. Jacobs gave it to Mr. Schalk van Niekerk, a neighbour, who entrusted it to Mr. O’Reilly, a hunter and trader, asking him to submit it to some mineralogist for an opinion. Mr. O’Reilly took the stone to Colesberg and showed it to Mr. Boyes, the acting commissioner for that district, at whose suggestion it was submitted to Dr. W. G. Atherstone of Graham’s Town. Thanks to his mineralogical knowledge, Dr. Atherstone proved the stone to be a diamond. It was exhibited in Paris in March, 1867, as “The First African Diamond Discovered,” and was purchased by the Cape Governor, Sir Philip Wodehouse, for £500. Sir Philip sold it to Garrards and it has changed hands several times since then. The weight of this stone was 21 carats. The famous Du Toit’s Pan was found through a Boer farmer actually discovering diamonds in the mud bricks of which his house was built.