Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1912-09-21
But doth suffer a sea change
Into something rich and stranre

We that in Shakespeares time men had
peculiar notions about the wonders wrought by
the animals or the sea. Again. in Moore's poem,
Peri and the Pearl" we find;
! And precious the tear as that rain from the sky
which turns into pearls as it falls in the sea.
Aelan thought that pearls were produced by
lightning flashing into the open shells.
Turning from these fantastic though interest
ing, theories let glance at the modern ex-
plantations of the formation of these beautiful
products OF nature.
You have, no doubt, often shells OF
molluscs lined with smooth anr iridescent coat
ing, which is called nacre mother-ofpearl.
This coating, like the rest Of the shell, is pro-
duced by the animal, and is made up mostly of
carbonate of lime and organic matriX which
usually presents Illuminated texture. You must
have noticed that the color and brilliancy of this
layer differ in various species OF shells. For
instance in the ordinary oyster II Is Of lustre-
less white, and in a kind of shell called abalone
or ear shell (Haliotis), the nacre is of green
Ssh blue tnge, changing to purple as you turn 1t
in your hand. In another kind, known as the
black-ppedshel, (Margaritifera) the mother-of-
pearl is of greenish black color. In the shells
of the true pearl-oysters the nacre is of clear,
delicate white. which has the sheen of floss silk
family tinted with azure, exhibiting beautiful
play of color-a quality which makes these shells
of great value in commerce.
Now IL often happens that foreign substances,
various kinds, parasitic worms crabs, or
times even small fishes become introduced by &C
cfdent or otherwise inside the shell into the
tissues OF the mollusc's soft body. In such cases.
the animal sometimes begins to deposit part OF
the material which goes to form the nacreous
layer of the shell around these foreign
objects and as new 1aterial is added year after
year In the form of layers these concretions
which may at first be very tiny grow to be OF
a considerable size. And when this takes place
in a shell with specially beautiful nacre such
that OF the pearloyster the result may be an OBJ
ject OF great beauty. priced from ancient times
a priceless jewel. In this strange way pearls.
the handsomest products Of nature produced
Such being their origin pearls may be formed
in any kind OF mollusc. bibalved or spiral. And
Just as the nacre Of different kinds OF shells diff
fers so the pearls themselves vary according to
the shell. which produces them. Thus the pearls
clam are milky white and not very bright. while
those of the sea mussel are usually black
Perhaps you have noticed that pearls OF
many different shapes, some round pear
shaped some egg-shaped and soma Of all manner
OF fantastic shapes. The round tear-shaped and
ngg-shaped ones known oriental or virgin
IearIs while those OF irregular shapes called
barouue pearls. These sometimes found In
the shapes Of fishes. birds wings, or creeping
worms The seed pearls. which generally
use for medicinal purposes by the Chinese. are
always very small and usually found together
in numbers.