Ernst Krause

“ The earth, like the sun and most fixed stars at present, was undoubtedly formerly in a fiery, liquid condition. Then the elements were commingled; all substances met, and entered the strangest combinations; the whole globe was an immense chemical laboratory. The earthy substances with the light metals, at the last period of those gigantic processes, probably formed the "mother-liquor," from which, under various chemical agencies, there separated now valuable metals, now grains of gold, and still more frequently substances which were ennobled by crystallization. ”

“ Thus we see that, as long as the process of separation lasts, we may talk of the growth of precious stones; and we perceive, from the laws of crystallization, how by the attraction of similar parts, and the exclusion of foreign ones, the formation of precious stones of perfectly "pure water" among the more impure ones, which are frequently found, becomes more intelligible. ”

“ AT the present moment, when the Continent has again become the battle-field between cholera and the human race, all questions concerning the cause, diffusion, and prevention of the cholera-virus must take a prominent place in the deliberation on the best sanitary measures to be adopted in combating this insidious foe. ”

“ How completely the imitation of Nature has succeeded, may be inferred from a peculiarity which the artificial rubies have in common with the natural ones: both, upon being heated, lose their rose-color, and do not recover it until they are cooled again. The diamond-cutters who were requested to grind these artificial rubies found them not only as hard as the natural ones, but in many instances even harder ”

“ Almost all practical preventive measures in this country and on the Continent as regards cholera and other infectious maladies are based on the assumption—supported by a good deal of evidence both theoretical and practical—that the virus is particulate, and, as indicated by its self-multiplication within the affected person, is a living organism. ”

“ Chemical combinations and simple substances of mineral as well as of organic nature assume their due crystal shapes, which are so well defined as frequently to bear a strong resemblance to those of cut stones, only when they pass from the liquid into the solid state, and they assume a large size only when this transition takes place very slowly. ”

“ In all probability, in Nature many precious stones have formed in the same manner; and most mineralogists concur in the opinion that rock-crystals, consisting of nothing but silicic acid, and frequently weighing hundreds of pounds, have originated thus. It is almost certain that this formation from liquids into solid bodies has taken place in a large class of half-precious stones, such as quartz and pyrites, consisting likewise of nothing but silica—namely, agate, jasper, opal, chalcedony, chrysoprase, carnelian, heliotrope, and others. ”

“ Precious stones so formed would be colorless if, in the terrible furnace of the primordial world, fire-proof metals had not taken upon themselves the task performed by aniline in our present dying-works. Long before there were colored plants and animals, metals played the part of pigments in Nature, and thus produced, in stones, colors almost surpassing in brilliancy those to be found in the animal kingdom. Rubies and emeralds are probably colored with chrome, sapphires with cobalt, lapis-lazulis with iron, and other precious stones with copper, nickel, manganese, etc. ”

“ For instance, if we dissolve in hot water as much alum as can be dissolved therein, and suspend in the fluid, while allowing it to cool in a quiet place, a wire vessel—a basket, a rosette, or a crown, wrapped in wool—we shall find next morning that wire vessel covered with glasslike, transparent, more or less large, glittering octahedral crystals. Cold water is unable to hold in solution as large a quantity of the salt as warm water ”

“ Nature's most successful way of producing precious stones was not to dissolve minerals, but to put them into a fiery liquid condition, and to separate the new productions slowly from their former impure parts by chemical and electric influences, as we shall see directly. ”

“ After several weeks of patient waiting, vividly recalling the expectant watching of the old alchemists at their crucibles in which the philosopher's stone was to be created, the crucible is taken out and cooled. After destroying the crucible, the contents are found to consist of two strata, above a glassy one, consisting principally of silicate of lead, and below a crystalline one, containing the most beautiful crystals of argillaceous earth in round clusters. ”

“ Their only superiority consists in the fact that the common substance in them has reached an extraordinary degree of crystallization, for, aside from their beauty, their rarity enhances their value in the market. ”

“ However, Chemistry has to admit here that it cannot demonstrate, with any degree of accuracy, how Nature really produced the diamond. Some think that it could only have been formed at an enormously high temperature; others consider its very slow formation in a cold condition more probable ”

“ This is quite possible, and, to a certain limited extent, is borne out by experience, notably in the case of putrid or pyæmic poisoning, where, owing to the presence of putrefaction in a wound, the products of putrefaction—the sepsin—absorbed in sufficient quantities into the system, create the above disease, often terminating fatally. ”

“ In so doing, small crystals are formed. They grow constantly as the separation goes on, and, if we leave the solution exposed to the fresh air so that it slowly evaporates, we shall at last obtain very large crystals. ”