Introduction. xxvii 



cowry was placed in the mouth because it was supposed 

 to be able to animate the dead : but when it came to 

 have a new value as currency this practice lost its original 

 significance and the use of the shell or the actual metallic 

 coin that superseded it for this purpose was rationalised j 

 into the belief that it represented Charon's fare for ferry- 

 ing the deceased to the other world. 



In India, China and America the vitalising powers of 

 the cowry were transferred to the pearl, which with rice 

 (in America the so-called "native rice") was put into the 

 mouth of the dead to insure its continued welfare. The 

 rice had a significance analogous to that of the cowry or 

 pearl it was endowed with " soul substance," which was 

 necessary to attain a future existence. 



It was an early theory of pathology that all illnesses, 

 and even death itself, were due to the abstraction of 

 "soul substance" from the living. Thus pearls, as the 

 bearers of vitality, were quite logically the appropriate 

 panacea for almost every ailment. Hence pearls, and in 

 fact all of the shells discussed in this book, occupied a 

 very prominent place in early pharmacopoeias. 



In his great treatise on "The Religious System of 

 China" (Vol. IV., Book II., p. 331) De Groot says: 

 " Clear reasons for pearls being considered as depositories 

 and distributors of vital force we have found in no book, 

 nor have we received any by word of mouth from Chinese 

 acquaintances. Perhaps the matter must be put to the 

 account of nothing else than Koh H ting's inventive genius 

 ... we must plead incompetency to solve this question." 

 According to the old Chinese writer Koh Hung, pearls 

 are rich in " soul-substance," in virtue of which they are 

 not only life-conferring, but also facilitate parturition, and 

 prevent the putrefaction of the dead body. The full 

 information given by De Groot of ancient Chinese ideas 



