The Portland daily press., 1888-08-07
Where the Finest are Found-Stimu.
Iating Their Growth.
my. Mail and Exnress ]

IN. Y. Mail and Express.J
week or 30 ago the head oyster-opener of
the Hoffman House found valuable nearl
embedded in an oyster that he was opening.
The pearl now adorns the shirt bosom of the
proprietor of that hotel A reporter talked
with an old-time pearl-fancier.
'As far back as we have history for any
gems" said the latter, "we have 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 at some period been
found, though at the present day the prin-
cipal 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 ia the Per
sian gulf. They excel in color, size, purity
and that translucency which gives this gem
its greatest value. The pearl fisheries in the
Persian gulf are said to yield upward of
Sl,6Oo, 600 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 excitement
was occasioned by the discovery of large
pearls near Salem in New Jersey. New
Jersey pearl, over an inch in diameter,
found near Paterson, was sent to Paris
where 1t was purchased by Empress Eugenie
for 81, 800, and when the crown Jewels were
sold last year by order of the Ferry govern
ment 1t was resold for $3,700, and is now the
property OF wealthy woman of New York.
The pearl is simply carbonate of lime,
with the addition of films of animal mem.
brane between the many layers of animal
matter. 1t Is the animal 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 Baltimore. 1t is found that only the
old animals. produce the gems, and it is for
tunate, no d0nbt, for the guest at the Hoff-
man that he did not get the bivalve that
contained the pearl, as he might have igno-
mintously rejected it, and New York would
have one pearl and one sensation less to talk
about. m
"Can pearls be produced at the will of
man, or can they be multiplied by manipula-
ton? 1t Is asserted by oyster fishermen.
and can be accepted as true, that the pearl
oyster has the power Of covering with addi-
tional layers such portions of its shell as
need strengthening, as we'll as objects intro
duced by accident or design. The Chinese
or Japanese, taking advantage of this have
long practiced the art of stimulating the Sc
erection by introducing beads made of spar or
powdered glass and varnish, or sometimes
turned from m0ther-of-pearl, and thus do
they actually succeed in forcing the animal
to produce pearls at their will, though of an
inferior quality.
Zone Of the curious circumstances con-
nected with the New Jersey pearl fever Of
1885 was the discovery of a few shells show
ing that many years before some one had
experimental upon the pearl bearing oyster
by dropping small mother of pearl buttons
inside the shell, hoping that the animal
would, In the course Of time, cover them
with its secretion. The experiments proved
failure, however, the result being that the
buttons became fastened to the shells by the
action OF the secretion, but did not develop
into pearls"
Some time ago number of small pearls of
the kind known in commerce as 'seed
pearls" were sent to the gentleman with
whom the representative of the Mail and
Express had the interview from Borneo,
under the name of breeding pearls" These
pearls were enclosed in glass tube along
with some grains of rice Ito feed upono
The sender gravely asserted that it had
long been known in Borneo that pearls
when put by for some time In box
along with rice would produce 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 shipment of
pearls and their food was received, 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 cir
Cumfer6DC6 than when first seen