Page:The fairy tales of science.djvu/309

Rh example from human nature, the wisest philosopher would be no better than the greatest dunce. The diamond is my most precious charge. It surpasses all other gems in hardness and lustre, and its beauty and rarity have rendered it peculiarly attractive to you men. My richest diamond beds are situated in the Brazils and in Bengal, but I have scattered these gems over many parts of the world. They may be found in alluvial deposits of sand and gravel, lying in detached octohedral crystals, sometimes with plain, but more frequently with rounded surfaces. When perfectly pure a diamond is as transparent as a drop of the purest water, in which state it is known to you who live overhead as a diamond of the first water; and in proportion as it falls short of this perfection it is said to be of the second, third, or fourth water, till it becomes a coloured one. Coloured diamonds are brown, yellow, green, blue, or red, the deeper the colour the more valuable they are, though still inferior to those absolutely colourless. Many of my largest diamonds have fallen into the hands of man. The famous Koh-i-noor, or Mountain of Light, was removed from the mines of Golconda more than three hundred years ago; but, though it was thus taken out of my keeping, I never lost sight of it, and I was extremely pleased to see it pass into the possession of the Queen of England.

"A slight sketch of the history of this remarkable jewel may, perhaps, be interesting to you. It