Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-06-02
THE TINT OF THE PEARL.
How the yenetians Put 1t Upon the
Glass Beads They Make.


Glass Beads They Make.
"You would hardly think" said a
dealer in fancy goods as he held up a
string of glass beads, each as big as a
cherry, made in imitation 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
Is beautiful fish had to be sacrificed,
would you? But such is the fact, and
although the beads are made in Ven
ice and this string of them represents
catch of at least 500 of these fish and
the exhaustion of good many cubic
feet of glass blowers breath, can sell
it to you for 25 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 l 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
armor 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 a turn for investigating
things, his name Salvador Joaquin,
placed a number of bleak in an acqua-
rum that he might take note of their
habits. After they had been in the ac-
quarium some time he saw that the
water took on 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 hues of a pearl. He
coated glass beads with the substance,
and the counterfeits 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. AS
sured that a large and profitable de-
mand for them would result if he could
fix the pearly lustre 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.
ut requires the scales of 1900 bleak
to make half pint of the liquid pearl.
The fish are more easily caught than
our menhaden. The scales are re-
moved and soaked in tepid water.
THE utility of the liquid was i'm
proved some years ago by the addition
of a small quantity of sal ammoniac
and isingless to it. These gave it a
closer and firmer set to the glass and
increased the lustre. The liquid IS
introduced inside the hollow glass
bead by means of small tube, and
when it is dry coating of transpar-
ent wax is run over it.
Fortunately for the race of bleaks,
the trade in these beads, pretty and
cheap as they are, is not so alarmingiy
large that extinction of the yieliers of
the pearl tint is imminent. There are
apparently just as many bleak in the
Adriatic now as there were two cen
turies and a half ago, and more than
likely there will be just as many two
centuries hence as aow."