The morning call., 1891-08-27
PEARLS TO ORDER.

Gems of the Ocean Turned Out by Ar
tifce.
A process for making real pearls by arti-
ice Is the basis of an application for a
patent newly filed by an ingenious person,
who expects to fud in his invention
source of wealth compared with which
Monte Cristo's means were poverty. The
material of which pearls are composed is
cheap enough. Take the shell of q pearl
oyster and remove by grinding or with an
acid the rougher coat What have you left?
sheet Of perhaps an eighth OF an inch
in thickness of pure pearl the precise SUBJ
stance which the bivalve deposits around
any foreign body. like grain of sand or oc-
casionally little fish that gets caught un-
der Its mantel, thus producing the pearls OF
commerce Why not take this sheet of ma
ere, dissolve it in acid and then redepOslt
the pearl in layers about II buckshot sus-
pended in the solutio on, thus initiating as
nearly as possible the method of nature2
If 1t we're practicable to make pearls at
all in this way perfect ones could be formed
every time OF any shape desired There
would be no difficulty in turning them out
as big as billiard balls. The trouble is that
the concretionS thus obtained would be
mere Jumps of carbonate of lime, lacking
entirely the irridescence which in the pearl
is due TO structure.
1t is claimed, however by this inventor
that he has overcome the difficulty, so as to
be able not only to manufacture pearls, but
also to plate articles witt the material as
forks and spoons are coated with silver
Conchologist Dali of the Smithsonian In
stitution, according to the Washington Star,
speaking recently about the practicabillty
Of pearl manufacture, exhibited very re-
markable treasure. 1t was a pearl as big as
pigeons egg, Of most exquisite rose
color, and the receptacle containing it was
the fresh water mussel, wherein it had been
originally formed. Explanation was made
that the nucleus of this Incompatible gem
was nothing more nor less than an oval
lump OF beeswaX, which had been placed a
few years ago between the valves Of the
molluSk.
To protect itself against irritation by this
foreign body the animal surrounded 1t with
the pink nacre it secreted for lining its
shell, thus transforming the wax into an
ornament fit for royal crown. The mussel
which produced this thing of beauty grew
in an OHIO river and was Kept in an
aquarium while performing its unwilling
task.
1t is a species of bivalve plentiful in
streams all over the United States, and
there is no reason whatever why any one
cannot make pearls in this way by keeping
a few "uuiOS," as they are called, in tank
at home. Care should be taken to intro
duce the intended nuclei we'll under the
mantle OF the fish, not making them too
large, because an object the size of pea
VIII acquire thickness Oh Qdcro tnucl more
rapidly than il there is greater surface to
be covered.
1t seems rather curious that this meth Cd
of making pearls should not have proved
commercial success iu Europe, where it has
been known for more than two centuries.
LinnauS, the famous naturalist, received
knighthoOd in 1757 for his discovery of the
process, but the trouble appears to be that it
IS too slow to be satisfactory as means of
turning out pearls on any scale for market.
Nevertheless, it is surely very interesting
as illustrating the only real success which
man has thus far achieve in manufacturing
gems after natures own methods. The ru-
bieS obtained recently in Paris by melting
together ruby sparks" which so alarmed
the French jewellers that they secured the
passage OF a law prohibiting their fabrca-
ton. are but limitations defectively crystal
liZed, while the almost microscopic diamonds
which Professor MaSkelyne claimed to have
produced in the laboratory a few years ago
are now believed by chemists to be true
stones.
For thousands of years the Chinese have
known how to cause oysters and mussels to
form pearls to order. The monks at Pu sa
CHI p'ang place inside the shells small fig
ures of Buddha, cut out of very thin lead
foil. These are soon made part of the she'll
itself by being covered over with a deposit
of nacre, and the valves thus adorned with
sacred pictures in relief are sold by the willy
priests to uilgrimS, who suppose them to be
of miraputDuS nri