Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-10-31


and also by the result of various
experiments. Professor Fabricius adds the
testimony of having seen several Chinese
Chamas then in the possession of Sir
Joseph Banks the shells of which con-
tanned bits of iron wire covered with
pearly substance. These wires had evil
IDENTIFY once been sharp, and it seemed as if
the sagacious muscles, to screen themselves
against the intrusion of such unwelcome
visitors. had incrusted and thus rendered
blunt the points with which they came in
contact.
Both ancient and modern naturalists
have speculated much on the
FORMATION OF THE BEAUTIFUL GEM
Which oriental writers termed margion, or
"a globe of light from which, and the
Persian name f'Mervarid,'' has been de-
rived the appellation Marguerite by
which it is known in Southern Europe.
Pliny, and afterwards Solinus, struck with
| its similarity to drop of dew imagined
that the pearl-tish rose every morning to
the surface, and expanded its shell to i'm
bibe the dews of heaven, which, silently de-
scending like a liquid pearl, entered the
| body OF the oyster, and there assumed the
shape, color and texture OF a real pearl,
and in support of their elegant hypothesis
both writers referred to various transforma-
stance, as the conversion of the nectareous
juice of flowers into wax and honey. A
similar opinion is still entertained by the
natives of Ceylon, and recorded in the
SanScrit books of the Brahmans. The Per-
slams hold the same idea, of which the fol-
lowing fable-which Addison introduces at
the close of one of his moral essays-is an
interesting proof: "a drop of water fell out
of cloud into the sea, and finding itself
lost in an immensely of fluid matter, broke
out into those reflections Alas what an
insignificant creature am l in this pro-
digious ocean! My existence is of no con-
Germ to the universe; l am reduced to a
kind of nothing, and am less than the least
of the works of Omnipotence.' 1t SO hap
pened that an oyster which lay in the
neighborhoOd CHANGED to cape and swal-
low in the midst of its humble soliloquy"
And the fable goes on to relate how the
drop lay a great while hardening in the
shell, till by degrees it ripened into pearl,
which, falling at length into the hands of
diver, after a long series of adventures it is
to-day that famous pearl which is fixed on
the top of the Russian diadem. Many
equally wild and extravaganza opinions as
to the formation of the pearl were advanced
by European conchologists, till Gin 1717) NJ.
Reaumur came out in the Memoirs of the
French Academy" with curious paper on
the
STRUCTURE OF BOTH SHELLS AND PEARLS.
His conjectures, which are now generally
admitted, were that pearls are formed OF q
juice extravasated out of some ruptured
vessels and detained among the membranes
of the oyster He proved his theory by
showing that oceanic and river shells are
formed wholly of a glutinous and stony
matter which ooZes from the body of the
furnished with vessels fraught with a suf-
ficient quantity of stony Juice to build
thicken and extend a shell, is fully capa-
BILE of forming pearl, if the juices designed
for the increase of its habitation shall
chance to overflow among the membranes,
or to fill up any accidental cavity in the
body of the animal itself. He further
shows that when pearls of two colors are
found in the pearl muscle of Provence, the
traits of each are precisely the same with
those of the shell and that each kind of
colored pearl is found in the corresponding
colored part of the shell, thus clearly
evincing that where the Transportation of a
certain juice had formed, and would have
continued to form coat or layer of pecu-
liar tint, the vessel that conveyed the juice
had ruptured and occasioned a small de-
post, which, gradually becoming hard, re-
tanned the color of the shell. The intru-
sion Of some heterogeneous substances,
such as
PARTICLES OF SAND
Or shot into the stomach of the animal, fre-
quently produces these curious extravasa-
tons. NJ. Reaumur terms them the nucla
for the formation of these valuable gems,
as the sagacious animals cover them from
time to time with exudations of pearly mat
ter in order to obyiate the disagreeable
friction which they necessarily occasion
Loose pearls are often found within the
shelly covering of the mytilus, and when
this is the case they have undoubtedly been
rejected from the stomach of the animal
and have fallen into the cavity of the shell.
The observation of these curious facts
probably first suggested the idea of forcing
the mytilus to produce pearls. 1t was
known in the earliest centuries of the
Christian era, and practiced by the ancient
peoples who inhabited the coasts of the
Red Sea; at least, so the philosopher,
Apollonius, informs US. Says he: The
Indians dived into the sea, after they had
rendered it calm, and perhaps clearer by
the pouring of oil upon it. Then they
induced the muscles, by means of some at
tractive bats, to expand their shells, and
having pinched them with sharp pointed
instrument, received into perforated iron
vessel the liquors which exUded from the
wound, where it hardened gradually and
formed pearls of the finest water" Mod
ern naturalists are not inclined to credit
this fish story; yet there are many reasons
TOR concluding that the ancient inhabitants
of the Red Sea coast knew some artificial
mode Of producing pearls; and the belief
is confirmed by the method now employed
by the modern Chinese, who retain, With
few. alterations, the arts and Customs of
their ancestors.
THE INVENTION or LINEAEUS
Cannot therefore be considered new, though
he was undoubtedly the reviver of this
ancient art in Europe. 1t was announced
to the Swedish King and Council, in the
year 1761, with an offer of disclosure for the
benefit of the Kingdom. Various circum-
stances prevented the acceptance of his lib
eral offer, and the secret was at length pur-
CHI ased by Bagge. Gottenburg merchant,
for five hundred ducats. The sealed man
uscript containing the secret was afterwards
disposed OF by the heirs of this gentleman,
to the highest bidder, and thus it fell into
the hands of a distinguished Englishman,
Sir ]. L. Smith.
The nations of the East. like the ancient
Romans, prefer the marion, or =" globe of
| light" to any other precious stone. using
| the finest for personal decoration, and those
| of inferior shape and luster for the trap
pings of their horses. We are told that in
| the magnificent hunting equipage of the
| Sultan MahInoud, which consisted Of four
hundred grayhounds and bloodhounds,
! each was decorated with collar set with
jewels and a covering edged with gold and
pearls. Many Oriental writers have taken
the cruel method of producing pearls as a
text from which to point a moral and
adorn tale" Hafiz, in illustrating that
maxim of the ancient Arabs, which says
to the yirtuous man Confer benefits on
| him who has injured thee" wrote:
Learn from yon Orient shell to love thy foe,
| And store with pearls the wrist that brings thee
| woe"
The Persian poet, Meskin Alderamy, COM
pares his friends to string of pearls, and
| himself the cord on which they are sus-
| pended. Carlisle's translation from the