92 PEARLS [CH. 



for ornamentation are but calcareous deposits, clue 

 to some irregularity, some perverted growth, or some 

 abnormal process : but such is the case. There is, 

 however, no lack of romance in connection with 

 pearls, both in the fancies of the East and traditions 

 of the West, and even in the sober science of to-day. 



The Hindoos, whose attention must of course have 

 been drawn very early to these glorious objects, con- 

 sidered (as in fact they do now) that the pearls were 

 consolidated drops of dew. They believed that the 

 pearl oyster came to the surface and opened wide 

 its two valves. Drops of dew fell inside and solidified 

 in consequence of the heat of the sun's rays. Pliny 

 must have known of the fiction of the Hindoos when 

 he related the tradition that the pearl oyster rested 

 during the night with its valves open and received 

 the drops of dew. The very quality of the pearls, 

 their whiteness and their brilliance, were all sup- 

 posed to be related to the condition of the dew- 

 drops that had been so transformed. 



Many a beautiful story has been Avoven around 

 these beliefs. The pearls are Nereids' tears — again, 

 they are dew-drops falling into the sea from over- 

 hanging leafy boughs. Other less fanciful ideas and 

 theories have been pronmlgated from time to time, 

 and every new account of the origin of pearls is intro- 

 duced or prefaced by the eiuimeration of all previous 

 theories. 



