I brought them all from what I believe to be the great central core of the earth." Everybody pressed forward, they surrounded the table.

One of the jewelers reverently took up the great stone; then in his other hand he took one of the smaller fragments, which he instantly recognized from its peculiar shape.

He looked from one to the other; presently he said: "They are the same substances.

This is a diamond." And he laid the great stone back upon the cloth.
"Is there any other place on the surface of this earth, or is there any mine," inquired a shrill voice from the company, "where one could get a diamond like that ?" "There is no such place known to mortal man," replied the jeweler.
"Then," said the same shrill voice, which belonged to a professor from Harvard, "I think it is the duty of every one present, whose mind is capable of it, to believe that the centre of this earth, or a part of that centre, is a vast diamond; at the same time I would say that my mind is not capable of such a belief." The public excitement produced by the announcement of the discovery of the pole was a trifle compared to that resulting from the news of the proceedings of that day.

Clewe's address, with full accounts by the reporters, was printed everywhere, and it was not long before the learned world had given itself up to the discussion.
From this controversy Roland Clewe kept himself aloof.