Excerpt from Diamonds, Pearls and Precious Stones: Where They Are Found, How Cut, and Made Ready for Use in the Jeweler's Art, Their Composition and Value The purpose of this book has been primarily to give assistance to the employees of the Smith Patterson Company in understanding more fully the diamond, pearl, and colored gem business by giving them, in a condensed and accurate form, information that the writer con siders useful. Although he is aware that many larger works already exist which cover the field in a most excellent and comprehensive manner, yet from the very fact that there is such an excellent body of gem literature, it is often hard to obtain a concise and accurate idea of the most interesting points in this field without the labor of extensive study. The object of the writer has been to present the most important facts concerning the nature of diamonds, pearls, and other gems, and the most interesting aspects in the work of discover ing and cutting or preparing gems for the arts, and to give such facts as will be of interest not only to the man in the business, but also to many admirers of precious stones. In preparing the following pages the works of many authors have been drawn from. In particular the writer acknowledges valuable assistance from. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.