The Moral Vision
There is Always a Way
~ 271 ~
THERE IS ALWAYS A WAY
You have probably seen manufacturers of glass
frames scoring the surfaces of sheets of glass with a
pen-like instrument, then neatly snapping them into
two. The cutting edge of this tool is made up of
small razor-edged diamonds. Even the huge drills
used for boring through hundreds of feet of rock
strata in the search for oil are fitted with diamond
cutting edges. It is the extreme hardness of the
diamond which makes these tools so effective. The
diamond is, in fact, the hardest known naturally-
occurring substance. It cannot even be scratched.
Put it in acid, and there will be no effect. But there is
another aspect to this wonderful stone. If it is
heated to a very high temperature it will
disappear—it will simply sublimate into carbon
dioxide, and if struck a sharp blow at exactly the
right point, it will break asunder. You have only to
look at diamond gemstones to see what exquisite,
multi-faceted forms they can be given by jewellers,
because, by studying the inner structure of the
diamond, they know exactly where and how to
break them.
