HOW CORAL JS WORKED, 487 



stem with a sharp file, and then, with a large pair of 

 pincers, breaks off the branches. The small cylinders 

 thus obtained are next pierced, in the line of their axes, 

 with a vertical drill, and in the aperture thus made a 

 handle is fitted, that the fragment may be more conveni- 

 ently manipulated. Next, the coral is submitted to the 

 action of a grindstone, until it is sufficiently rounded ; 

 and the " pearl " produced by this operation passes into 

 the hands of the polisher, who exposes it to the friction 

 of a metallic disc, made to revolve with great rapidity, 

 and coated with emery of various degrees of fineness. 

 The different facets are thus produced with a wonderful 

 degree of regularity; after which the "pearl" receives a 

 final polish. 



Coral is now little valued in England as an article of 

 ornament, and is chiefly seen on the tables and mantel- 

 pieces of old " sea-captains " and voyagers, who preserve 

 it as a memorial of distant lands and past experiences. 



