PEARLS 



WHAT is A PEARL? 



WHAT is a pearl ? The substance of a sensation the 

 consolidation of discomfort on the part of an oyster 

 or other nacre-secreting mollusc. It is a globular 

 deposit of carbonate of lime, with a very small propor- 

 tion of water, generally enclosing a trifle which is its 

 cause and core and, so to speak, is a waste product 

 of the body's chemistry. In the restricted, scientific 

 sense, "true pearls are bodies consisting of calcareous 

 material with an organic basis." Similar bodies having 

 cores of sand grains or other foreign substance are known 

 as "blisters." 



Science, which peers and probes into the innermost 

 affairs of oysters, and speaks of them in terms of uneasy 

 familiarity, asserts that pearls are frequently caused 

 by a parasite to which they are subject. 



It would ill become one who has no scientific preten- 

 sions to suggest other definitions, though he may claim 

 to be among the few who have been privileged to observe 

 a pearl in the making, or, rather, to watch Nature's 

 finishing touches. 



In the case of the oyster the radical home cure for the 

 living irritant or insoluble substance which had gained 

 entrance between its valves is an encasement of pearl- 

 film. If this encasement is globular or pear-shaped, or 

 takes the form of a button and is lucid, lustrous, flaw- 



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