PEARL 



The best pearls are produced > 



/era), which aUo is the principal 

 source of rnothrr-of poarl, and 

 iin-.tliiT kin.l. .V. Jurat*. These 

 vii-hl whit.-, yi-lliiwlth wl.it.-, I. In 

 ish \\liite. reddish, grey, anl 

 pearls. The finest blacks, ulinh 

 are much esteems). >-<n<- l<m MM- 

 Booth Set* and the Golf of v 

 The hammer oysters of the (iambicr 

 hi in. I- yii'M bfOBM tinted pearls. 

 Pale rose coloured pearl* w i 



!>.od come from the Bahamas. 

 Garnet red, pale and dark brown 

 ones are obtained from the fan 

 mussel (I'inna nobilia), blue from 

 the edible muiwl, violet from the 

 .<irk slidl (.Irco Noae), and purple 

 from the Amiina cepa. 



In the trade pearls are known as 

 pear, bell, or drop, according to 

 their shape ; those of irregular 

 form are known as buttons, fancy, 

 blisters or baroques. Paragons are 

 of tlu* size of small walnuts; 

 cherries, of cherry stones ; seed, 

 shot, and dust are the smallest. 



Imitation pearls are fashioned 

 out of mother-of-pearl, but are 

 easily detected, as the layers are 

 not concentric. The finest imita- 

 tion pearls are made on a principle 

 discovered by Jacquin, of Paris, in 

 1680. He used hollow beads of 

 colourless glass, coated with a 

 mixture of gelatin and the tiny 

 silvery scales of the bleak (q.v.), , 

 and filled with wax to give solidity. 



" Cultured " pearls are produced 

 by introducing into the flesh of the 

 oyster, usually under the liver, 

 a foreign substance which the 

 oyster covers with " nacre." The 

 Japanese have long been the chief 

 agents in this branch of the pearl 

 industry. In 1921 considerable 

 discussion arose as to the pro- 

 priety of putting on the market 

 these cultured pearls as natural 

 ones. 



Most pearl fisheries are found 

 within the tropic seas. Those giv- 

 ing yields of the greatest import- 

 ance are the oyster beds of the 

 Persian Gulf, the Ked Sea, Ceylon, 

 Queensland and W. Australia. 

 The last three regions are strictly 

 preserved. Fishing is also carried 

 on in the waters of California, 

 several points on the S. American 

 coast, among the Pacific island 

 shallows, and in several of the 

 Chinese estuaries, the latter prob- 

 ably furnishing pearls from mussels. 

 Fishing is generally undertaken by 

 divers from boats, armed with 

 knives and bags attached to belts 

 round their waists to contain the 

 oyster shells. In other instances 

 baskets are lowered and hauled up 

 by ropes. Many fishers wear diving 

 dresses, which enable them to re- 

 main longer in deep water. In 



6019 



\ T 





Pearl Fruit Flower-toarinf branch 



ot the i mall ihrub. Ini et, left, leal ; 



rifbt. fruit 



Australia, dredging is also adopted. 

 See Australia ; Bahrein Islands. 



Uibtiography. The Great Barrier 

 Reef of Australia : Its Products and 

 Potentialities, W. Saville-Kent. 

 1893 ; Report on the Pearl Oyster 

 of the Quit of Manaar, 

 \V. A. Herdman, 1903; Book of the 

 Pearl, O. F. Kunz and C. H. Steven- 

 son. 1908 ; Pearls, W. J. Dakin, 1913. 



Pearl. English poem of the 14th 

 century. It was written about 1370, 

 probably in Cheshire or Lancashire, 

 by the unknown author of Sir 

 Gawayne and the Green Knight, 

 Cleanness, and Patience, perhaps, 

 after Chauoer, the greatest Muldlr 

 English poet. Pearl, written in 101 

 stanzas of 12 lines, tells how the 

 author, grieving at the death of his 

 infant daughter, whom he calls his 

 pearl, sees her in a vision as a 

 grown maiden standing on the 

 farther bank of a river. She com- 

 forts and instructs him, and finally 

 shows him the New Jerusalem, 

 where she walks among the virgins 

 who follow the Lamb. See editions 

 by I. Gollancz, 1891 ; C. G. Osgood, 

 1906; Pearl rendered into Modern 

 English, C. G. Osgood, 1907. 



Pearl. River of Mississippi, 

 U.S.A. Rising in Winston co., it 

 follows a winding course of 295 m. 

 to the Rigoleto, a channel com- 

 municating between lakes Borgne 

 and Pontehartrain. It drains an 

 area of 7,250 sq. m. and is navig- 

 able for small craft for about one- 

 third of its length, while larger 

 vessels reach Gainesville. 



Pearl. Group of islands in the 

 Bay of Panama, Central America, 

 belonging to the republic of Pana- 

 ma. The largest are San Miguel, 

 Del Rey, San Jose, and Pedro 

 Gonzales, and there are numerous 

 islets. They were so named from 

 the pearl fisheries, which are 

 actively prosecuted. 



Pearl. Type, half the size of long 

 primer, a size larger than ruby 

 and a size smaller than diamond. 

 Known also as 5 point, about 15 

 lines make an inch in depth. It is 

 called both I'artiienne and Stda- 



PEARS 



nowe in French, Perl in German, 

 July and peert in Dutch, and ocekia 

 di mason in Italian. 



Pearl Ash pm POTASH. Grade, 

 impure potassium carbonate. It 

 is obtained by burning waste 

 wood. The United States, Russia 

 -pain are the chief producers 

 of tins form of potash, and a re- 

 vival has taken place in the manu- 

 facture consequent upon the dis- 

 location of the supply from the 

 can potash mines. Pearl ash 

 is used in the manufacture of flint 

 glass and soap. 



Pearl Fruit (Margyricarptu 

 tetottu) Small shrub of Un- 

 natural order Rosaceae. It is a 

 native of the Andes. The alternate 

 leaves are broken up into awl- 

 shaped leaflets. The inconspicuous, 

 small green flowers are produced 

 at the base of the leaves, and are 

 succeeded by minute pearly fruits. 

 Pearlite. Constituent of steel, 

 an intimate mixture of ferrite and 

 cementite. It was first described 

 by H. C. Sorby, who called it the 

 pearly constituent of steel. It 

 may be either granular or lamellar 

 in structure, and, if the latter, the 

 lamellae may be alternately hard 

 and soft. It is characteristic of 

 steel which has cooled slowly from 

 a high temperature. See Steel. 



Pearl Powder. Crystalline 

 form of calcium sulphate employed 

 in paper making for hardening the 

 surface of paper. It is also known 

 as pearl hardener. A powder made 

 from fish scales, used for giving the 

 effect of pearl to celluloid and 

 xylonite, is known commercially 

 as pearl powder. The term is also 

 used for a cosmetic consisting of 

 bismuth oxychloride. 



Pears, SIB EDWIN (1835-1919). 

 British lawyer. Bom in York, he 

 became secretary to Frederick 

 (later arch- 

 bishop) Tem- 

 p 1 e, then 

 went to Tas- 

 mania, return- 

 ing to England 

 in 1860. Called 

 to the bar, 

 1870, he went 

 to Constanti- 

 nople in 1874, 

 and exposed 

 the Bulgarian 

 atrocities i n 

 the British press. He made his 

 home there, practising in the con- 

 sular courts and studying Byzan- 

 tine archaeology, on which he was 

 a leading authority. Knighted in 

 1909, he died in Malta, Nov. 27, 

 1919. after an accident on board 

 ship from Constantinople to Eng- 

 land. He was the author of Turkey 

 and Its People, 1911. and wrote 

 much on the Near East 



Sir Edwin Pears, 

 British lawyer 



11 1 ill A frf 



