Distribution of Pearls and Pearl-shell. lor 



Reference has already been made (supra p. 89) to the 

 placing of pearls in the mouths of deceased Hindus ; a 

 similar custom was practised by the " mound builders" of 

 the Mississippi valley (see p. 114). 



Pearls are frequently alluded to in Chinese literature 

 as the depositories of Yang matter, and as such ranked 

 among the bearers of vitality. Medical works declare that 

 they can ensure and facilitate the procreation of children, 

 and these same books say that pills made of pearls mixed 

 with the blood from the comb of a cock and inserted in 

 the eyes of a person who has suddenly expired, or lost 

 his speech, can be useful in recalling the person to life; 



The valves of Unio tientsinensis, the Ko-fen of the 

 Chinese, are used by these people as a powder in medicine, 

 and occasionally as one of the ingredients of pills, as a 

 substitute for the pearls from the marine pearl-oyster. On 

 account of the costliness of pearls from the latter source, 

 pills and powders made from them are said to possess 

 marvellous powers of cure, and are even used in the treat- 

 ment of small-pox. sti 



It would seem that in China, and in other oriental 

 countries, a distinction is made in the therapeutic pro- 

 perties of so-called " virgin " pearls and of those pierced 

 or bored for stringing. One Chinese natural history states 

 that bored pearls will not serve for medicine, for which 

 unpierced ones should be used. 87 



Legends of "lightning pearls," " pearls shining during 

 the night," "pearls lighting like the moon," inter alia, 

 are current in considerable numbers in the native litera- 



S5 Ibid., pp. 217 and 277. 



s ' ; Lovell, op. cit.. pp. 75 and 102, quoting J. O. Desbeaux, " Essai sur 

 la Pharmacie el la Malic-re Medicale des Chinots.'' 



" Kunz and Stevenson, op. cit., pp. 308-9- . 



