The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-03-18
THINK PEARLS GAN CROW WHEN
 OUT OF SHELLS

Age-o legends and disputes about the power of pearls to grow and null tiply after their separation from the oyster are being revived in London as the result of the mystery covering a bag of pearls owned by Sir Ernest Birch, formerly British Governor and Commander-in-C Chief of North Borneo They were bought nineteen years ago from a native Borneo woman, and since then are said to have increased in size, number and beauty.
 Sir Ernest thought little of his pur- - chase at the time, the pearls being only of pinhead size and carelessly throw together in a small black bag He presented them to his wife, who also paid little heed to them until a short time ago, says the Daily Elk press"
 Opening the black bag, Lady Birch found, much to her amazement, that there were enough pearls in the bag to make a two string necklace of 25O small pearls, a miniature framed in alternate diamonds and pearls-the latter selected gems of fair size-a gold chain set with rubies and pearls of good size, and last, but most in teresting, heaped up pile of pearls ranging from the tiniest baby pearls to others fully equal in size and color to those in the necklace
 London experts have been much interested in the story of the magic pearls, but have placed little credence in its accuracy. They profess to have heard other similar stories gut Ge- clare that there is no case of so-caIl- ed breeding pearls that has been authenticated by men of scientific standing.
 When the LonGon story was put be- l fore George Frederick Kunz, the lead l ing pearl expert of Tiffany & Co.,. he 1 declared that it was impossible for ! pearls to breed after they had been removed from the oyster They l neither grow in size or numbers, he l said, the pearl being made up of a | series of crystalline and animal layers 1 Of substance, which stop their growth | immediately on being removed from i the oyster. pearl, he said, cannot ] take its nourishment from the outside l carried on by the animal substance of i the oyster. Stories which tell of the growth of pearls, both in size and number, have often gained wide publicity in the past i but scientific men recognized author 1 1t1es on pearls have always found them to be false, said MT. Kunz. One 1 explanation of the growth in numbers
 theory is that the Baroque pearl is
 made up of a number of smaller
 pearls and that sometimes one or
 more of these collected pearls are
 separate from the group, and in thi:
 manner gives cred ulous persons the
 belief that another pearl has beer
 grown.
 In his Book of the Pearl" MT
 kunz tells of belief which has ex
 isted for years in the Malay Archi pelago that several selected pearls O
 a good size sealed in a box with :
 few grains of rice for nourishmen
 will increase in number as wei
 as in size. It is said that smal
 indentations can be observed in tn
 grains of rice sealed up with tn 5 pearls as if a small rodent had nib t bled bite from the end of eacl , grain.
 3 The earliest story known of the al I legged existance of such breedin. = pearls is credited to Dr. Eng1eber
 kaempfer. attached to the Dutcl
 Embassy to Japan from 1890 to 1696 Many travellers along the Malay Ar
 chlpelago have reported such tale 8 since that time