Their medicinal qualities. 65 



and as preservatives of virtue, the marvellous 

 properties and talismanic virtues with which the 

 Pearl was supposed to be endowed, have no doubt 

 contributed in no small degree, to intensify that 

 love and admiration which a magnificent Pearl 

 cannot fail to excite. 



The medicinal qualities of Pearls. 



In India, China, and other Oriental countries, 

 Pearls have for ages been supposed to possess valu- 

 able medicinal properties. Even in our own country, 

 down to a period not very remote, they found a 

 place in the Materia Medica, and are mentioned in 

 many of the pharmaceutical works of the last 

 century. Thus, in Lewis' " Experimental History 

 of the Materia Medica" (4th ed., 1791), we read 

 that — "The coarse rough Pearls and the very small 

 ones which are unfit for ornamental uses, called rag- 

 Pearl and seed Pearl, are those generally employed 

 in medicine." Pearls were prescribed as astringents 

 and antacids, a use which would be naturally sug- 

 gested by their chemical composition — carbonate of 

 lime. Their therapeutic value however, must have 

 been but slight ; while their cost would preclude 

 them from being universally adopted. 



Oriental potentates are said to have burned 

 Pearls and chewed the lime so produced, v/ith 



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