microscopical observations upon the configuration of diamonds: in a letter from mr. antony van...

Microscopical Observations upon the Configuration of Diamonds: In a Letter from Mr.Antony Van Leeuwenhoek, F. R. S.Author(s): Antony Van LeeuwenhoekSource: Philosophical Transactions (1683-1775), Vol. 26 (1708 - 1709), pp. 479-484Published by: The Royal SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/103289 .

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Ir. 3dicroJcotical O;Jeraations tponw tk-e Con/igaration of Diaanonds: In a Letter from Mr. Antony Van Lecuwenhoek, F. §t. S

Honoxtable GesftSefwen, T Take ttie Liberty of troubling you again with t&eft; 1 my followin",ObServations} which I have had lain by me; theRe three Years, within whch tlme I cauSed them to be delmeated by rny Painters and engraven upon - a Cop ?erbPlate; the Draught of which l here fend Youv

I haare been of een ask'd, wh:Cther I could diScover any ttiing particular in the fDonEguratton o£ Diamonds; where- upon fome Years ago, I tcrok a fmall poliDid Diamqnda and broke it m Pieces with a Pair of Pincers; but having ferared nothing more in tbe broken Particles tilereofe than in thofe of Common G.lafs, I laid aXide all Ibought. Of it for that time.

Some Months ago it came into my Head, that X (hon'& have made my EVemarks not upon poliCh'ds; but Xruff; >a-

.. ..

mons ,s, W}lereupon I. plrocur'd a Ew fma11 iruff Diamonds fros

a Jewellery fome of which^I placed before a MicroCcop>D and obEerved one of then more particularly ;concertling wbich 1 conctuded: that all thofe- Streaki-or Fibres which t faw in it were nothing more thaa the feveral Coagula¢ tions or hugulentations it hed recciv'd fromltimeco timeZ mdbthat in a very &ort EpaceF



( ARs tI;;gO xs AQ B C. D. E. F tzprefents a fmall artiele of

X little Dial-nond, as it ap-peard thro a lcrO<ope; iR whtclS between A. and B.-as alfe between G. D. E. and F. you may oSfnrve a great lSum9Pr of LinAs or txibres in the faid Diarnond; each of mvhich Fibres was occa&on'd as I fuppoSe by tile IrlcreaGe or AcceE-Xon of new hZlattterX,

which whether it was form'd tn one Day ok more is no; much -to the purpote.

Now that elle increafe of Diamsondz is kmade in Csch S Order and Manner, we may conclude the rather becaure we;a-re fure t-hat the fame thirlg happens in tIle CoagulaF tion of many Salts.

I have taken fome o£ there Particles feve-ral times, and jaid- them -upon burnint, Wood-Coals 'till they wJe red hat, and in thatCondition thrown them tNtO -lle WaterX to See whccher they wou'd burA to Pieces, or wherhe- there wou'd bn any feparation of Matter from tlrem; buc rilat -never happXniligt [ muflt conclude that -there was- no Air nor any MoiRure Ihat np witbitl them

One Particle of a Alamond appear'd to the Sight, as Sg. 2 G-. H. 1. -K. L. attr I had made it red hor, and aked -it in-Water feveral times; in this alfo, between L.

and Go you may obSerare felreral fmall Streaks-or Fibres: -and when I obEerved it tlle la{t tlme, after I had taken it out of tlle Waters it appear?d betweea L. G. H. and I. juR as if Womte fmall Scales had been Separated from it; juft 3iike the fbirling or gliFering Parts whi6h I have often Seen in fereral Stonest and particuiarly in the great Flins Stone that is brought in Ships {rom Greenlatfd for BallaS, when the W}ale^Filhing is not good, and when its Chry Aalline or Diamond Tranfparency is gone.

Fig. 3. M. t<. (). P.Q. RW reprefents alfo a Particie of a DiamondX as it appear'd th-ro' the MicroScope? after tx had becn xnade fev:ral times-red hot and t5FoYWn into

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(4gl ) old Water ; in the middle of which one mlg&t perceiva fuch Slits or Crack-s as one mighe compare to tthe Top cr- Cieling of an Unsrainfkotted Church wiebin fideX whi<>h nvas no unpleafant Speflracle, but cou'd not be CO vvtell

traced by TI1e Pairter a5 it ougllt to have boen ; but whe- this Appearance be natural to the Diamend, or whether t proceeds from the breaking it in Pieces, is unknown to me; but nzy Opinion is, tllat it sras not occafionXd by

S being made red hotX -and tllrosvn aftersYards into the Vlater, fcxr it it llad been foX the Diamond wovfd have keen feparated into-a gteat many Partlcles, or one srou'd have diScovered feveral Cracks or Flaws in it: For a cer tain GoldEnzith halring bought feveral fmall Stones fot L):amonds, and which maliy People wouXd have taken for

preciOus StonAsX he gan e me three or four of them to viewy and I preSently judged them no¢ to be Diamonds for they had neither Iharp Pvints rzor fmooth Sides, but ap- pered like tranEparent Particles of Sands whoSe Angles QR Poirlts were worn off; he allow'd me alfo to make thern red hot, and to throw them into the Water after+vardss wlzich I did, and obServed by tlze help of my MicroCcope, that they llSd got a greatmany Rents or Cracks in thems in0sluch tlzat with a little fqueezin, they wouad crumble all to Pieces.

Dg. 4. S. T. V. W. X. Y. reprefcnts the fmall Parti- cle cf a Diamond, no bigger to the naked Eye than a final} Grain cjf SandX from whence you may jWadge alfo of tlle -lart,cne(k etY the otller Damond Particles, repreSerst ed by the prWceding Figures ; this lalt mentio-n'd PartIF cle MJaS not PUt ito the Fire. Yc>n may alSo obServe at S. T. V. \7V. anl Y. the lharp-Points of the faid Par- ticle.

From whence I conclude, that I- was fig-t in my for- mWr9temarks concernint, the Particles of Sand:, tO -\v5ts

t1.wat t1zW faid sJery finall Particles confi{ling of rcgular Cccc Polnts



( 4B£ ) Poxnts nd fintot21 fides like lEamondss were fote at ther frlt Coagulations but grew greater and larger by tlle Aco eclion of nWXv NIatter '{i31 they becamwe large Grains 0526 Sand; and mo£eoverX that Some Diamonds were forn5d uft after the fame mannes.

Noss as we find9 tllatz t-tl the I:)iSolution of Sslnter by JXx fortiS ft3me of tlle firlall Silarer Parti>les are Coa gulated in CbryRals of the fi-gure of Diamonds; ard that rlie S3gar *^7h-ich is boiled to- a Syrup in order to make igar Candy>= is alfo Coagulated- into fuch Particles; fo we may -likew-i-fe fuppofe, that at tbe tlrne wtin the I)taw mond- Partscles coa^,ulatt a great deal of the fame Mat ter wlaereof they are compoWed ;ss in the Aw, it not to be perceived by our naid Eyes nor the QuantlFy tbereof tv be known tt!l ie is Coagul:ated into a Body: And wha} inouts -l5ut if a Sllovel of thae Earth, out of which tlzcy di, IJiamonds, were broughe over and carefully lExa- nxiz'd by a Microftoix, one mag-llt dtScon^ct abLln dance tfE eXa59 and compleav Iittl;e Deamon-ds of an UrlX

@eakab'le fmalluepEs. It know tlere are a greatmany People wlao are of OF.ZX

nion,- that many things Iying in the Bofiwelsof the i:arrb9 xnd cEpecially DtarQQnds grow bigger and} toiggerX and at thexr lncreaSe is occafioned by fubterraneous Fires dri ving -the lEamps up higher and higher, which l)amps they. fay are impregnated or loaden wsth Mineral5 Chryt Atiline ot Ada-mwntine Particles

But E am not of that Opinione for if;i-t were trut that a-n Adsmentine Mat-ter were-produced by the Subtrraneo ous Fires- driving up the Damps, we m&zA cxs-nclude that tw1 at Matter wouf'd be fluid} anel £h-en that SuidsMatter ro rv wj wou«d -Cougulate with the liiamonds It mee in itS sta7> and makeerkem greater ys Xbut if that were aruee lsis Adanantine Nlstter b drven up cousdb not have the c tvSditSe ti or Sand titla hicb the DsaX

mon



(483 ) tnonds were furrounded,: in order tO it5f 0wn AreSoxx ot Coalition therewithX but tbis (:oagulating Adamantim Matter wouXd itlsolve Earth, Sand, or w-batever other Particles laySin its ways by wlxich means tllere would be btlo [uch Thing as a cleaJr and clean Diamond diggad- out of the i:arth.

;I know that there are Wome ruffDiamonds in and about which there is an earthy WIatter, but tIlat does not See} llrange to mes becauSe it happenss as I imagine in the veryCoagulation of the Diamonds, and when the Parts thereof were foft.

Among feveral Hexangular Pieces of EtoCIlryftals I have obSerlred fome whofe fides appeard tery fmootll to the naked 6ye, and whofe Points did nor at -a11 re- femble Chryftals but rather a dark Earth :; which t con vceive to be onllr occafion'd by ttle neighl)ouring Eartb9s infinuating ittelf into the Points of the faid Chtyltal, at its*firlt Coagulation, and when it WA5 Soft.

Let as now {fuppoSe a Diamond Iying in tlle Earth, and growing contitlually greater} whofe Axis w as the 4eh part cof an Incbs or I50 Hairs breadth, and that fucll a Dia mond In the fpace of Ten Years was fo malch encreasad,, that its Axis or the Dignefs of its Body was augmerwted on every fide half a Hairs breadth, and fo proportionably every Ten Yea-rs; by cortliqtrezs then m the fpacc of gooo Years its Axis wousd be Three Hundred Hairs breadth greater, by which means tlle Diarnond tvoud be Tweney Scven lZimes bigger than at tirfE.

Now if we fuppoCc, that a Diamond in tlle fpace of Ten Years d-oes incrcaSe on all fides a Hairs breadths itS

Axis woud be tsro Hatrs breadthX Wllicll in sooo Yeara wou'd be 7so Hasrs breadtll, and thea the laftaler<tionici DemtoM wou'd be sz5 times bjgger tban the Diamontl whoSe Axis was T S0 Hairs breadth : Now ftxppo&ng a Diamond whofe AYiS was xs0 Hairs breadth, ad irs

C c c c z Weight



-

(484 ) -Weight 7 Carrats, what a prodigious Diamond wou'd that be whofe Axis is 75o Hairs breadth, and wlzere fhall we find filch a Diamond ? I hope that your FloS nours will find Ibmething itl thefe ObServations wllich may be acceptable to yoax, and in the mean time I ffiall remain:

Hoxarable Gentleenea5

rOXt g0 Hbte Servvaa

Antony van Leeuwenhock

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microscopical observations upon the configuration of diamonds: in a letter from mr. antony van...

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