DIAMONDS AND RADIUM.

Shannon News, 11 February 1927, Page 3

DIAMONDS AND RADIUM.

REAL AND PASTE STONES.

How to transform diamonds that are of a yellow hue or otherwise off colour I into stones of that blue-white purity which gladdens the hearts of connois-1 seurs is said to, have been discovered | in a curious manner by American scien- 1 tists. Dr. C. Everett, Field director ofl the Radium Institute of New York, told us about it, says the New York correspondent of the Daily Chronicle. An ordinary yellowish glass dish used in laboratory work changed into bluewhite. This led to experiments with diamonds, and £3500 worth of radium enhanced the apparent value of a cheap yellow stone something like 700 per cent, in four days by changing its colour. So far as can „be judged by tests and observation through four years, no stone that has once changed colour regains its original tint. Two American jewellery houses are making extensive tests of the effects of radium on the precious stones. The fact is not lost sight of that criminals may take equal advantage of the discovery but that is no concern of the scientists. However, as diamond cuts diamond, so radium can be used to thwart criminals for radium can be used to distinguish paste from genuine gems. In a dark room a real diamond held near radium emits a phosophorescent glow. A pastistone remains invisible.