Evening star., 1924-06-29
PEARL |SPARAD0X
OF PRECIOUS GEMS
Emblem of Wealth, Jewel Is
Only Deposit-Sometimes
Carefully Nurtured.

Recent sale of a string of pearls
for a reported price of more than
II 100000 francs serves to recall that
the pearl is a paradox among precious
gems" says bulletin from the
Washington headquarters of the Ma
tional Geographic Society.
The familiar figure of speech,
casting pearls before swine is no
more violent contrast than the fact
that a pearl is originated by a para
site.
"As one writer says: The ornament
associated in all ages with beauty
and riches is nothing but the brilliant
sarcophagus of a worm
Certain gems are affected by the
newly rich, and sometimes are asso-
ciated with vulgar display. Not so
the pearl-it usually is the insignia
a pearl shows it to be structuraHy
just like the humble onion!
Formed BY Deposits.
"In the language of the chemist
pearls are 'ca1cerous concretlons OF
peculiar luster, produced by certain
pearls are formed in certain oysters
when the oyster secretes and depos-
its around foreign particles, usually
parasites, layer after layer of a
limestone substance.
If this deposit, known as nacreous
matter, is spread over the inside OF
the shell mother pearl is formed;
If it is formed on hump OF the
shell a button pearl is the result;
but if it is built around parasite
part of the mollusk, then a genuine
spherical or a pear-shaped pearl is
made
Now it would occur to an in
geniouS minded person that since an
oyster tends to protect itself against
substance around them that the oyster
could be encouraged to make pearls
to order just as bees are inveigled in
to making honey. Linnaeus, famous
Swedish naturalist, proved TO the west
ern world that insertion of tiny part
iCles in oysters was equivalent to
planting pearls but as with SO many
of our latter day inventions the
Chinese had anticipated him by many
centuries.
Chinese Nurturpd Pearl.
For generations the culture of
eral villages near Tai-Tsung. China
In early spring the pearl growers
would collect river mussels. open
their valves with bamboo stick and
insert foreign bodies therein. These
were placed in shallow pools, nourish-
ed by excrement, and after the lapse
of months, sometimes of years, the
mussels were collected, the pearls eX-
tracted, and the soft parts eaten.
Sometimes the, tiny insertions
and the result would be pearl fash
ioned after the matriX. Among the
most remarkable of these oyster art
objects We're the sitting Buddahs,
specimens of which are on display in
the British Museum.
India is the worlds treasure
house of pearls and the choicest col
lections of them are owned by native
rulers.
Shawl Of Pearls Owned.
"The iaekwar of Baroda has a sash
made of 100 rows of pearls with
tassel of pearls tipped with emeraldS.
His hishness possesses what probably
is the most valuable jewel ornament
in all the world-a shawl Of pearls
ten feet long, six feet wide. This
shawl, or rug. literally is woven OF
strings of pearls and its center and
border are set with diamonds 1t is
worth several millions of dollars.
"A necklace of eight strings OF
pearls. which are said to be the finest
specimens in India and also worm
millions is owned by the Ra1ah OF
Pearls too tiny for commercial use
are known as seed pearls In India
these are ground up. and because OF
their lime content chewed with peter
nut, The Romans, you Will recall,
though they priced pearls as orna
ments Favored their wine with
powdered pearls. .
The coasts of Ceylon and India
are the classic homes of the pearl. in
later years the South Sea Islands,
Australian waters. the CUR or Can :
fornia and the Caribbean have yield
ed pearls.
THE adventures of the pearl
fsheries-the India divers who go
armed with spikes to fight the sharks
and the South Sea women divers who
anoint their bodies with oil before
thew make their plunges-offered
fascinating chapters of human Gus
tom. But that is another story"