Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-10-06
FACTS ABOUT PEARLS.
Whore the Finest Are Found and How Their
Growth MAY re stimulated

Wbcrctbe Finest Are Found and How Their
Growth MAY Re Stimulated
As far back n "" haYe history
for any gems. said an old-time pearl
taneier. I'VE have a record Of pearls,
and. not even excepting the diamond,
IS there jewel SO often spoken Of in
history. sacred and profane. as the
pearl. There is scarcely country on
the face Of the globe where pearls have
not al some period been found, though
al the present day the principal
fisheries are confined to the coasts OF
Ceylon, Japan, Java. Sumatra, Bahrein.
in the Persian Gulf, and the islands in
the vicinity of Panama
The best pearls are obtained in the
Persian Gulf They excel in color,
size, purity and that translucencv
which gives this gem its greatest value.
The pearl fisheries in the Persian Gulf
are said to yield upward OF 81, 800, coo
annually. Those of Panama reach
about the same figure. Pearls have
also been found in the waters of the
United States. and in 1858 considerable
covery OF large pearls near Salem, in
New Jersey. A New Jersey pearl,
over an inch in diameter found near
Paterson, was sent to Paris, where it
was purchased by the Empress Eu-
genie for 81 800, and when the crown
jewels were sold last year by order OF
The Ferry Government it was resold
for s3, 700, and is now the property OF u
a wealthy woman of New York.
1.-The pearl is simply carbonate OF
lime, with the addition OF films of ami
NAL membrane between the MANY
layers of mineral matter that. when
dry. gives the pearl its hardness.
Several species Of bivalve mOllusks
secrete pearls. especially the true pearl
oyster and among fresh water species
those sometimes found near Balti-
more.
"Can pearls be produced at the will
of man, or can they be multiplied
by manipulation 1t is asserted by
oyster fishermen, and can be accepted
as true. that the pearl oyster has the
power OF covering with additional
layers such portions Of its shell as need
strengthening, AS well as objects intro
duced by accident or design The Chi
nese and Japanese. taking advantage
y this, have long practiced the art
= stimulating the secretion by intro
lucins beads made of spar or powdered
glass and varnish, or sometimes turned
e.. - 4 ~
actually succeed in forcing the animal
to produce pearls at their will, though
Of an inferior quality.
zone of the curious circumstances
connected with the New Jersey pearl
fever of 1888 was the discovery of n
few shells showing that many years
before some one had experimental upon
the pcarl-bearing oyster by dropping
small motherof-pea buttons inside
The shelf, hoping that the animal
would, in course of time, cover them
with its secretion. The experiments
proved II failure however the result
being that the buttons became fastened
to the shells by the action Of the secre-
ton. but did not develop into pearls. =
Some time ago a number Of small
pearls Of the kind known in commerce
as .seed pearls" were sent from Bor-
neo, under the name of breeding
pearls These pearls are enclosed in
II glass tube along with some grains OF
rice ito feed upon The sender grayely
asserted that it had long been known
in Borneo that pearls when put up for
some time IN box along with rice
would reproduce their kind. Three or
four months afterward the grains OF
rice enclosed with the pearls had the
appearance of being partially eaten.
1t is now several years since this ship
ment Of pearls and their food was re-
ceivea, but the rice does not seem to
have diminished to any greater extent
than when they arrived, and the pearls
themselves are no greater in circum-
ference than when first seen,-N. \.
letter.