TRANSCRIBER’S NOTE
Footnote anchors are denoted by [number], and the footnotes have beenplaced at the end of the book.
Basic fractions are displayed as ½ ⅓ ¼ etc; other fractions are shownin the form a/b, for example 1/144 or 5/12.
Some minor changes to the text are noted at the end of the book.
Harper’s Library of Living Thought
BY SIR WILLIAM CROOKES
HARPER &
BROTHERS
LONDON & NEW YORK
·DIAMONDS·
BY
SIR WILLIAM CROOKES
LL.D., D.Sc., F.R.S.
Foreign Sec. R.S., Hon. LL.D. (Birmingham), Hon. Sc.D.(Camb. and Dubl.), Hon. D.Sc. (Oxon. and Cape of GoodHope); Past Pres. Chem. Soc., Brit. Assoc., Inst. Elect. Eng.,Soc. Psych. Res.; Hon. Mem. Roy. Phil. Soc. Glasgow, Roy.Soc. N.S.W., Pharm. Soc., Chem. Metall. and Mining Soc.of South Africa, Amer. Chem. Soc., Amer. Philos. Soc., Roy.Soc. Sci. Upsala, Deutsch. Chem. Gesell. Berlin, Psychol.Soc. Paris, “Antonio Alzate” Sci. Soc. Mexico. Sci. Soc.Bucharest, Reg. Accad. Zelanti, Aci Reale; Corresp. Inst.de France (Acad. Sci.), Corresp. Mem. Bataafsch Genoots.Rotterdam, Soc. d’Encouragement pour l’Indust. Paris,For. Mem. Accad. Lincei Rome.
WITH 24 ILLUSTRATIONS
LONDON AND NEW YORK
HARPER & BROTHERS
45 ALBEMARLE STREET, W.
1909
TO MY WIFE
MY COMPANION AND FRIEND OF
FIFTY-FOUR YEARS.
TO HER JUDGMENT AND ADVICE I OWE MORE
THAN I CAN EVER REPAY
AND TO HER I DEDICATE THIS BOOK.
PREFACE
The following pages are based on personalobservations during two visitsto Kimberley, in 1896 and 1905, and onpersonal researches on the formation andartificial production of diamonds. In 1896I spent nearly a month at Kimberley,when Mr. Gardner F. Williams, the GeneralManager of the De Beers ConsolidatedMines, and the managers of neighbouringmines, did their utmost to aid inmy zealous quest for reliable information.They gave me free access to all workingsabove and below ground, allowed me toexamine at l