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FIRE IN THE EARTH
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Jagersfontein
and Koffyfontein mines, pale yellow to white; Premier mine, pale brown
to white. Then, discussing the chemical composition of the diamond, he
makes this important statement:
The
diamond, if pure, should contain the element carbon only, but this
rarely happens except in the very purest white or colourless crystals.
The greatest care must be exercised in any examination of the chemical
composition of the diamond, whether it be carried out by chemical or by
spectrum analysis. This is necessary because the colour in the diamond
may be caused in two ways: by an actual chemical mixture of the element
carbon with some other element or by minute particles of foreign matter
which had been enclosed in the diamond during crystallization.
The
quantity of impurities causing colours combined with the carbon in the
diamond are so small that in order to make a proper chemical analysis,
the quantity of diamond would have to be large, so that the expense
would prohibit any extensive chemical investigations.
The only possible inference the writer can find is that a "pure" brown or yellow or blue or pink diamond is impure
because it doesn't contain "the element carbon only." But having said
that, one can drop the pedantic mantle and "admit that, chemically pure
or not, colored stones are beautiful, valuable, and highly cherished.
Some people prefer a clear pink diamond to the blue-white, but it is a
rare stone. In the colored stones as in the blue-white, quality is
all-important and is determined by the degree of perfection of the
individual stone. Freedom from imperfections, evenness of color, and
clarity are all essential factors. Some of the finest fancy-colored
diamonds have come from Borneo; in fact, the large proportion of
diamonds found there have been colored stones. Brazil also is said to
have contributed colored stones, but many of the stones found in the
Brazilian workings, according to the Diamond News, are really
(218)
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