* 
jimh 
58. On the Economical Uses of some species of Testacea. 
shores of Arabia, the Persian Gulf,* and the Red Sea were the most 
perfect and the most celebrated. The mode of capturing them 
seems to have varied little from that practised at the present day. 
Divers were employed, who brought them to the surface in nets, and 
they were packed in jars with salt till the animal was decayed. On 
being taken out, the pearls were found at the bottom of the jars.t 
Among the ancient philosophers, effects were continually attributed 
_ to causes the most inconsistent and the most contrary to nature—in 
fact, merely wild or fanciful guesses. Many were of course made 
as to the origin of these substances. ‘The general opinion appears 
to have been, that they were formed by drops of dew falling into 
the shell, for which purpose it periodically rose to the surface ; and 
Pliny gravely informs us that if the atmosphere was thick at the 
time, they were dark and clouded ; if it was clear, they were white 
and brilliant. It is singular that the same opinion is found to prevail 
at the present day among the natives of Ceylon, and very similar to 
it, is the account of their formation recorded in one of the Sanscrit 
books of the Brahmins.t ‘The same fancy also exists in the inte- 
rior of Hindoostan.|| 
The nacre was manufactured into boxes for the preservation of 
sweet perfumes and precious ointments. 
Of the pearls of ancient times, those belonging to Cleopatra are 
certainly the most celebrated, and though there is reason for believ- 
ing that the account of her dissolving one of them in vinegar and 
drinking it to Antony’s health at supper is an historical fiction, yet 
that a pearl or pearls of great value were in her possession is pretty 
certain. In Pliny’s time, the two halves of a magnificent pearl, said 
to have been the fellow to the one destroyed, were hung in the ears 
of the statue of Venus Genetrix inthe Pantheon. This author esti- 
mates the value of it at a sum equal to $375,000. Other persons — 
are also reported to have dissolved pearls and treated their guests 
to the same expensive draught. Julius Cesar gave £48,437 for 
one, which he presented to one of his mistresses.$ 
There was so much difficulty in obtaining pearls of exactly the 
same size and color, that the Roman ladies, about the time of the 
= oF early as B. C. 311, the Persian Gulf was famous for them. emi s 
Annals 
t Asiatic Researches, V. 410, Lond. ed. 
5 Macpherson’s Annals of Commerce, I. 144. 
Pw, mo 
