Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1902-02-08
THE TINT OF THE PEARL.
How the venetians Put IL Upon the
GInss Beads They Make.

"YOu would hardly think" said Il
dealer in fancy goods as he held up
string of glass beads. each rs big as Il
cherry, made in iinilatiOn pearls, says
the New York Times, that TO put the
pearl tint and luster on each one OF
these little globes the lives of at least
fifteen beautiful fish had to be sacrl
feed, would you? But such is the
fact, and, although Tic beads are mace
in Venice and this string Of them rep
resents a catch Of at least 800 Of those
fish and the exhaustion of good
many cubic feet of glass blowers
breath. can sell it to you for 20 cents
and make a fair profit.
They have been turning out beads
such as these in Venice for nearly two
centuries and a half. In the Adriatic
lives a fish called the bleak, but why
they named it bleak can't see, for
there is certainly nothing bleak about
its appearance.
1T is a graceful fish, probably of the
carp family. and has gliStening ar
NOR of silver scales. The fish are more
prolific than the herring. which has
been good thing for them. One day
in 1856 an obServant citizen of Venice,
with turn for investigating things,
his name Salvador Joaquin. placed a
number of bleak in an aquarium that
he might take note Of their habits.
After they had been in the aquarium
some time he saw that the water took
on a pearly hue.
Believing that this was communi-
Gated by washings from the scales OF
the fish. the Venetian observer expert
mented. He found that water could
be so densely charged with the tint
from the fish scales that glass, when
dipped into it and allowed to dry, had
all the outward hue Of pearl. He
coated glass beads with the substance,
and the cOunterfets were readily ac'
cepted as genuine pearls.
THE coating of these beads. it was
found, though. had but slight resist
ance to friction and soon disappeared
from the surface of the beads. Assur-
ed that a large and profitable demand
for them would result if he could fix
the pearly luster on the beads so it
would defy friction. Joaquin conceived
the idea of having the globes blown
hollow and then attaching the fish scale
solution to the inner surface. This was
a success from the start, and the glass
pearl business got its first boom.
1T requires the scales of 1000 bleak
to make half pint of the liquid pearl.
The fish are more easily caught than
our menhaden. The scales are remoy-
ed and soaked in tepid water.
1.-THE utility of the liquid was i'm
proved some years ago by the addition
of a small quantity of sal ammOniac and
isinglass to it. These gave it closer
and firmer set to the glass and increas
ed the luster. The liquid is introduced
inside the hollow glass bead by means
of a small tube, and when it is dry q
coating of transparent wax is run over
it.
Fortunately for the race Of bleakS
the trade in these beads. pretty anc
cheap as they are, is not so alarmingly
large that extinction of the yielders OF
the pearl tint is imminent. There art
apparently just as many bleak in the
Adriatic now as there were two cen
turtles and a half ago. and more than
likely there will be just as many two
centuries hence as now"