Distrihulion of Piarls and Pe.u-I-s/u'//. loi 



Reference has already been made {siipm p. 89) to the 

 placini; of i)earls ir. the mouths of deceased llindus; a 

 similar custom was practised by the " mound builders " of 

 the Mississippi valley (see p. 114}. 



I'earls are frequently alluded to in (Ihincsc literature 

 as the depositories of \-a\v^ matter, and as such ranked 

 among the bearers of vitality. Medical works declare that 

 the\- can ensure and facilitate the procreation of children, 

 and these same books say that pills made of pearls inixed 

 with the blood from the comb of a cock and inserti-d in 

 the e\^es of a person who has suddenl}- expired, or lost 

 his speech, can be useful in recalling the person U) life."" 



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

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

 and occasionally as one of the ini^redients of pills, as ;i 

 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.""' 



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 wol serve for medicine, for which 

 unpierced ones should be used."' 



Legends of " lightning |)earls,'' " pearls .shining during 

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

 are current in considerable numbers in the native litera- 



^'- /hid., pp. 217 and 277. 



" • Lovell, of>. ,//.. pp. -JS and 102, quotins; J. (J. Dcsbcaux, " Ks-ai v,ii 

 la riiannacie el la Malicre Mcdicale dos Chinois.' 



^" Kunz and Stevenson, o/>. cil., pp. 30S-9. 



