ON THE EXISTING RECORDS AS TO THE DISCOVERY OF A DIAMOND IN IRELAND IN THE YEAR 1816
By V. BALL, M.A., F.R.S., Director of the Science and Art Museum, Dublin.
[Read, April 16, 1883.]
[From the above given date it will be seen that nearly four years have elapsed since this Paper was read. The delay in its publication has been due to the fact that I was desirous of obtaining some further information on the subject, and, if possible, of availing myself of some opportunity for making a personal examination of the locality where the discovery is stated to have been made. Although up to the present I have not obtained any additional information, and have been unable to make the projected examination, I have been led to delay the publication no longer, as it may direct attention to the subject, and so lead to the required information being acquired. Moreover, inquiries have been recently addressed to me as to what the facts of the case really are. Imperfect, and it must be said inconclusive, as they appear to be, they are, therefore, now recorded for future reference.]
For some time I have been engaged in the collection of materials for a general correlation of the diamond-bearing deposit throughout the world, and have already amassed a considerable amount of information on the subject. Regarding some localities, however, the accounts are geologically defective, and I must defer for the present attempting to draw up a general statement of the facts. In the meantime, however, I would direct attention to a record of the discovery of a diamond in Ireland, as the subject is likely to prove of special interest here.
In Karl Ritter's 'Erdkunde Asien' (vol. vi., published in 1836) I first met with the statement that a diamond had been discovered in Ireland. Subsequently I found it repeated by several different writers, and quite recently I have been enabled to consult John Murray's work on diamonds, which was published in 1831, where the fact appears to have been first recorded. The passage is as follows:–" A diamond has also been found in Ireland, in the bed of a brook flowing through the district of Fermanagh. It possesses a red tint, and was brought to a lady resident there by a little girl who said she had picked it up in the bed of the brook. The bearer was rewarded with sixpence by the lady, who had been in the habit of collecting pebbles, &c, from the rivulet. This rough diamond was afterwards submitted by the lady to Mr. Mackay, an eminent jeweller of Dublin, who pronounced it to be a diamond; and not long after the opinion of the late Mr. Rundell of Ludgate Hill was obtained, who valued it as a diamond worth twenty guineas in its then rough attire. On ascertaining this the lady issued a notice desiring to see the girl again, but she never afterwards made her appearance, perhaps fearful to lose the sixpence, for it appears that even this remuneration was only granted conditionally. We received our information in person from the Rev. Dr. Robinson, of the Royal Observatory at Armagh, a gentleman of high scientific attainments, who had the gem in his possession, and was well qualified to judge."
Before meeting with this passage I was told by Lord James Butler that the diamond was still in the family of Sir Victor Brooke, to whom I accordingly wrote, and he kindly favoured me with the following reply, which differs from Murray's account only in so far as regards immaterial points, such as the names of the jewellers who handled the stone. But in order that the evidence should carry conviction as to the original matrix of the diamond having been in the rocks of the neighbourhood, further proof as to the actual position and circumstances with which it was found seems desirable. I am led to make this remark since I have twice seen specimens of fossil bones obtained from fishermen's houses in Ireland, which were said to have been dragged up in the nets, but which, if they had not first been dropped from vessels into the sea, were, probably, brought from far distant localities by some travelled friends of the fishermen.
Sir Victor Brooke's letter is as follows: –" The diamond was found in the year 1816 in the Colebrooke river (which takes its rise in the mountains between Monaghan and Fermanagh, and flows into upper Lough Erne). It was brought to my grandmother, Lady Brooke, by a little girl who had been searching for pearls. Lady Brooke placed it in her inkstand, where my father, who had just returned from Brazil, observed it by chance. He was struck with it, and said he suspected it to be a diamond, and took it up to West, the jeweller, in Dublin. West pronounced it to be certainly a diamond. My father then took it to Storr and Mortimer, who confirmed West's opinion, and it was set in Wicklow gold either by West or Storr and Mortimer. It is now an heir-loom in my family. It is a nice diamond, not quite so large as a swan-shot; its only flaw being that it is slightly tinged with yellow. There can be no doubt whatever about the authenticity of the story."
The rocks traversed by the Colebrooke river, in its upper reaches, consist of beds referred to the Old Red Sandstone, and apparently the Silurian formation is also represented close by. Now, excepting South African localities, it would seem that the original matrix of the diamond, in most of those countries where it is found, is in rocks of these ages or somewhat older. It is true that in Borneo both diamonds and gold are found in tertiary deposits; but there can be little doubt that neither the one nor the other originated in them, but were derived from older palaeozoic rocks. In India, too., the diamonds are generally found in diluvial detritus, which is, however, largely made up of materials obviously derived from rocks of possibly Devonian or Silurian age.
In Brazil, according to a lately published account, the mines at Grrao Mogol and other localities are in a bed of palaeozoic age, and at Parana they occur in Devonian sandstones and conglomerates. Mr. 0. A. Derby, the writer of this account, considers that the diamonds, like the pebbles with which they are associated, are all of detrital origin. But at Sao Joao the diamond is believed to occur in its original matrix, namely, a vein of quartz called barro, now decomposed, but containing iron and tourmaline. This vein traverses unctuous schists and itacolumites, which are believed to be of Cambrian age.
Thus, in so far as the age of the rocks goes, there is sufficient resemblance to the conditions of diamond occurrence in other parts of the world, for saying that there is no inherent improbability in the supposition that the diamond which is the subject of this notice may have originated near the spot where it is stated to have been found.
Source: The Scientific Proceedings of the Royal Dublin Society - 1887
Trev.
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The Discovery of a Diamond In Ireland
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