THE TOMB OF PEARL 



its contents, tell a tragic story which, transposed into 

 human terms, would be that of a young rake who, as 

 a result of the error of his ways, comes first to prison, 

 then to death. If Nature uses a precious substance to 

 make a coffin for him, if she adorns what she herself 

 has done, she gives, none the less, an example and a 

 lesson. 



This story is that of an accident which happens 

 comparatively rarely. It is brought about by a chance 

 circumstance, the coming of a little fish into a place 

 where it ought not to be. The consequences throw 

 light upon the essential point, the continual production 

 of mother-of-pearl, of which it is only an episode. 

 The pearl-fish is not the only one to try to introduce 

 itself between the shell and the mantle; other animals, 

 even smaller, do likewise. The result is the same. 

 Just like it, the intruders are immobilized, imprisoned, 

 stifled, then mummified and covered with a pearly 

 shroud. More often still, some impurity, a tiny frag- 

 ment of shell, a grain of sand, which has got there by 

 accident, also finds its way into the forbidden area. 

 Its presence ends in the same way; it too is swallowed 

 up by the pearl and put aside as it were, isolated. This 

 is the usual origin of those protuberances often im- 

 planted in the inner face of the valves. From their 

 form and composition they are called " nacreous 

 pearls." 



Their size and appearance are subject to variation, 

 but their origin is similar in every case. They are 

 concretions formed around a foreign body, the first 

 centre of a local irritation which has brought about 

 and directed the secretion of the nacreous matter. It 

 is in this way that their fine enveloping layers are 

 produced and deposited, as in the case of the fish's 

 tomb. The story has been generalized and has given 

 up its real secret. 



We know the shells which have inside them figurines 

 — tiny figures of chinamen — encrusted in the pearl, 

 285 



