_Uses of the Diamond._--The use of the diamond for other purposes than jewelry depends upon its extreme hardness: it has always been the only material used for cutting or engraving the diamond itself. The employment of powdered bort and the lapidary's wheel for faceting diamonds was introduced by L. von Berquen of Bruges in 1476. Diamonds are now employed not only for faceting precious stones, but also for cutting and drilling glass, porcelain, &c,; for fine engraving such as scales; in dentistry for drilling; as a turning tool for electric-light carbons, hard rubber, &c.; and occasionally for finishing accurate turning work such as the axle of a transit instrument. For these tools the stone is actually shaped to the best form: it is now electroplated before being set in its metal mount in order to secure a firm fastening. It is also used for bearings in watches and electric meters. The best glaziers' diamonds are chosen from crystals such that a natural curved edge can be used. For rock drills, and revolving saws for stone cutting, either diamond, bort or carbonado is employed, set in steel tubes, disks or bands. Rock drilling is the most important industrial application; and for this, owing to its freedom from cleavage, the carbonado is more highly prized than diamond; it is broken into fragments about 3 carats in weight; and in 1905 the value of carbonado was no less than from £10 to £14 a carat. It has been found that the "carbons" in drills can safely be subjected to a pressure of over 60 kilograms per square millimetre, and a speed of 25 metres per second. A recent application of the diamond is for wire drawing; a hole tapering towards the centre is drilled through a diamond, and the metal is drawn through this. No other tool is so endurable, or gives such uniform thickness of wire.
_Distribution and Mining._--The most important localities for diamonds have been: (1) India, where they were mined from the earliest times till the close of the 19th century; (2) South America, where they have been mined since the middle of the 18th century; and (3) South Africa, to which almost the whole of the diamond-mining industry has been transferred since 1870.
_India._--The diamond is here found in ancient sandstones and conglomerates, and in the river gravels and sands derived from them. The sandstones and conglomerates belong to the Vindhyan formation and overlie the old crystalline rocks: the diamantiferous beds are well defined, often not more than 1 ft. in thickness, and contain pebbles of quartzite, jasper, sandstone, slate, &c. The mines fall into five groups situated on the eastern side of the Deccan plateau about the following places (beginning from the south), the first three being in Madras. (1) Chennur near Cuddapah on the river Pennar. (2) Kurnool near Baneganapalle between the rivers Pennar and Kistna. (3) Kollar near Bezwada on the river Kistna. (4) Sambalpur on the river Mahanadi in the Central Provinces. (5) Panna near Allahabad, in Bundelkhand. The mining has always been carried on by natives of low caste, and by primitive methods which do not differ much from those described by the French merchant Jean Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689), who paid a prolonged visit to most of the mines between 1638 and 1665 as a dealer in precious stones. According to his description shallow pits were sunk, and the gravel excavated was gathered into a walled enclosure where it was crushed and water was poured over it, and it was finally sifted in baskets and sorted by hand. The buying and selling was at that period conducted by young children. In more modern times there has been the same excavation of shallow pits, and sluicing, sifting and sorting, by hand labour, the only machinery used being chain pumps made of earthen bowls to remove the water from the deeper pits.