1 8 Pearls. 



gratify this passion, every realm of Nature has 

 been put under contribution. Earth has been 

 mined and seas have been explored, and both 

 have yielded lavishly of their bounty. Among all 

 the products which have been contributed by the 

 latter, the Pearl stands pre-eminent and unrivalled 

 for native beauty. Indeed, we find that from the 

 very earliest times, Pearls have attracted the 

 regard of man, and have been employed by him 

 for purposes of personal adornment. 



In whatever light Pearls may be regarded by 

 the naturalist or man of science — whether as 

 redundant deformities, the result of special and 

 fortuitous circumstances, with which the Pearl- 

 bearing oyster may be surrounded, or as the 

 legitimate production of a function inherent 

 in the mollusc — they are undoubtedly ranked by 

 those skilled in precious stones, as costly products 

 rivalling in value and surpassing in beauty the 

 choicest gems of rock or water-course. By the 

 fortunate possessors of wealth and beauty, they 

 are highly esteemed as a means of judiciously in- 

 vesting the one, and of chastely yet elegantly 

 heightening the charms of the other. 



Poets and philosophers too, have in all ages, 

 recognized in Pearls the emblems most fitted to 



