Connecticut western news., 1890-01-22
PEARLS OF AMERICA.
A GEM EXPERT TALKS ABOUT
 THEM INTERESTINGLY.
There is Danger in E1terminating
 Them---Pearl Growing fo. Profit.

There is Danger in Exterminating
 Them---Pearl Growing fos Profit.
 Numerous items have recently ap- peared in the press concerning the pearls of the Sugar River, Wisconsin, which have not all been without foun- dation, since some parcels have been sent to New York which were worth from few dollars to over one thou sand dollars a parcel. To many who have read these accounts it may be ia- teresting to know that, in the last twenty years, more than $1OO,OOO worth of pearls have been found ia the United States in that family of mol lusks known as "unios," or fresh water mussels, the same that abounded at one time in the rivers of, Scotland. It was from pearls found in this kind of shells that the name of "Scotch River Pearls" was taken. It is the fame of these which the historian Sue tonius says induced Caesar to send his armies to Great Britain, and it was with the pearls which they secured that he had a buckler made which he presented to the temple of Venus Gen. etrix.
 A large pearl found by Daniel Howels at Notchbrook, N. J., in 1856, which Messrs. Tiffany < Go. sold to the Empress Eugenie for 12, 500 francs, led to pearl excitement at that time which resulted in the raking of the brooks throughout the United States. Millions of shells were opened; but a very small portion of them, indeed, were found to contain pearls of any kind, while nearly all, if not quite all, the mussels found were destroyed.
 In 1857 fully $15, ,Ooo worth of pearls were sent to New York; in 1s58-9 and 1860 only about $2ooo worth. The ex- citement abated until 1868, when there was slight revival.
 The pearls found in the American unios are rarely perfectly round, often button shaped, that is, fiat on one side. Many are very irregular in form, occa- sionally assuming fantastic shapes, as fishes, birds wings, heads of animals, &c.,, and others are too irregular to be of any use whatever. The color of many is often superb, such as white, pink, hay blue, sometimes rivalling in brilliancy even Oriental pearls. Then, if of good form, they have a high value. The irregular shaped ones, if fine in color, are used for scarf pins and other jewels, and very successfully in the decoration of etched, enamelled, or oxidized silver.
 In certain countries pearl raising is distinct profession. In Saxony this in- dustry has been in the hands of the Schmeler family since 1646, and cor rect record has been kept of every pearl that has been obtained, as well as the name of the man who found it. Their method of pearling consists, not in opening the mussel by boiling, which destroys the pearl, or opening it with knife or other sharp instrument, which kills the animal, but in slipping between the two valves of the mollusk sharp-pointed pair of forceps or pliers, the handles of which are slowly pressed together, thus opening the shell, Should a pearl be present, it can easily be removed, and if no pearls are present the molusk is rHt back in the stream. In this way the unios are not eXtermim.teu. Unless some such method is adopted by our own people the present excitement will lead to the extermination of all our fresh water mussels.
 Few pearls at present are found east of Ohio, although many fine ones were found in that state during the past twenty years, some of which were in collection made by MT. Harris of Waynesville, O., which was mounted for the Paris Exposition. This collec- ton contains series of pearl ornaments in which the pearls are arranged ac- cording to the color or shade, so that in one the pearls are green, in another purplish brown, in another pink, in another cream yellow, and in one waxy white. One pink pearl of eight grains was admired. By reflected light this pearl had the translucency and color of drop of molten silver in an assay crucible.
 This collection of pearls, and the shells in which they were found, re-, ceived gold medal from the juries, and the information concerning their early history brought for the collabo- rator silver medal.
 In the common conch, strombus gi- gas, or trumpet shell, as it is sometimes called in Florida and the West Indies, few pearls of great value have been found on the Florida coast, but occa- sionally they have been found in the West Indies worth $1 ,OO0 each. These generally have satiny lustre, the structure being crystalline, differing from the pearls found in the unio and true pearl oyster, the structure of