SUCCESS IN CAUSING THE PEARL OYSTER TO 

 SECRETE SPHERICAL PEARLS 



By Bashford Dean 



The following notes were presented : 



1. The Japanese have, during the past decade, developed 

 a small but prosperous industry producing culture pearls 

 which are hemispherical or nearly spherical in form. The 

 process by which they are produced is well known, centuries 

 old in the East, and there is considerable literature deal- 

 ing with it. 



2. After experimenting several years the late Dr. T. 

 Nishikawa, formerly of the Fisheries Bureau in Tokyo, and 

 later associated with his father-in-law, Mr. Mikimoto, of 

 Tokyo, the leading pearl culturist of Japan, devised a 

 method by which the pearl oyster could be caused to pro- 

 duce spherical pearls. This appeared to be the first time 

 that such a result was obtained. The speaker has authority 

 of one of the foremost zoologists of Japan that the method 

 •was successful, and as evidence of the success of the new 

 method he was told that during commencement time at the 

 Imperial University of Tokyo (shortly after Dr. Nishi- 

 kawa's death) pearl oysters were brought before the Em- 

 peror and that Professor lijima, head of the department of 

 zoology, demonstrated pearls of spherical form in situ, 

 produced by the Nishikawa method. 



3. The new method is a secret one, with one or more 

 patents pending. 



4. Whether the process is now producing pearls in the 

 Mikimoto establishment or elsewhere is an important ques- 

 tion commercially. The speaker has not seen a Nishikawa 

 pearl, and has no accurate knowledge that the new pearls 

 are in the market. The matter, however, even in its latent 

 stage, is of interest generally, for the expense of producing 

 a spherical pearl by a culture process is but a small per- 



