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FROM THE DEPTHS
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strip, while the diamond is able to separate the colors one from
another to such an extent that under favorable conditions the eye may
catch the burning intensity of one color at a time. You cannot see
through a diamond except from the side; what you do see is a brilliant
glow of light, gathered by the stone and transmitted directly to your
eye.
All
this affects the fluorescent qualities of the diamond. Earlier in the
present century an English scientist, Sir William Crookes, discovered
that some diamonds showed a luminosity in the dark immediately after
exposure to bright sunlight. Others gleam brightly when exposed to
ultraviolet, cathode, or X rays. After long exposure to radium a
colorless diamond becomes green. Since diamonds are a good conductor
of heat, they consequently feel colder than glass; a film of moisture
from the breath will disappear more quickly from the surface of
diamonds than from glass. X rays pass through the diamond easily, since
it is pure carbon and offers little resistance. — The color of a diamond is, of course, one of its most important
attractions. The purest diamonds are colorless and water-clear, and
such stones are described as of the "first water" or "blue-whites."
There are also stones of pale yellow, pale brown, gray, or black but
these colors detract, rather than add, to the beauty of the stone.
There are also some excellent diamonds of pure canary yellow, golden
brown, deep blue, green, pink, and even red, and others known as
"champagne" diamonds. It is unnecessary to go into detail here about
the color of diamonds, however, since such a discussion fits more
appropriately into a chapter dealing with the selection of stones of
color, cut, and quality.
A word might be said, however, about that minor villain of the diamondiferous world, the synthetic or imitation
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