Artificial Production of Pearls. 387 



is closely allied to the conditions of deposition and subsequent 

 growth of the shell-matter. Molecules, either a single grain or 

 congeries of grains, varying from 9-01 to 0*05 of a line (f of 

 an inch down to the a^o^h of an inch), enclosed in the epider' 

 mis of the shell, constitute usually the nuclei of the pearls, 

 which, to a certain extent, may be considered as nothing but 

 a portion of the epidermis not applied to the formation of shell. 

 The pearls also are simply independent concretions growing in 

 the creature, and consisting of the substance of the shell, which 

 are with difficulty discriminated from the various descriptions 

 of growths which constitute the inner surface of the shell. 



The great importance of the pearl as an article of luxury 

 and commerce, has naturally led to numerous attempts to 

 manufacture them by artificial means, in the course of which 

 extraneous bodies have been introduced between the mouth 

 and shell of the animal, sometimes with, sometimes without 

 injury to it. The Chinese especially are adepts at placing 

 certain small bodies, specially prepared, in the shells of the 

 pearl oyster, which, after a short time, becomes coated with 

 mother-of-pearl, or nacre. This manufacture of artificial 

 pearls is carried on on a large scale in the neighbourhood of 

 Hong -Chow -Foo. During our stay at Hong-Kong and 

 Shanghai respectively, we ourselves saw several mussel- 

 shells, in which a mother-of-pearl covering had formed over 

 small neatly carved figures, mostly sitting figures of Buddha,* 



* The antiquity of this experiment is proved by the fact that the TopograpMa of 

 Iscliikiang speaks of a pearl, which had been sent to the Imperial Palace at Peking 



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