68 Pearls. 



into pills, powders, oils, and majooms. The following 

 is one of the processes by which burnt Pearls can 

 be assimilated with each other. Strain the burnt 

 powder well, put this into a bottle with some lime 

 juice, and cork it up. Fill up half of an earthen 

 vessel ihajidi) with vinegar, and hang the bottle 

 over it by means of strings from outside, so that it 

 does not touch the liquid. Cover the vessel up with 

 an earthen dish, and keep it under a heap of cow- 

 manure for 14 days. Then take it up, and after 

 opening it, the powder having been converted into 

 water, becomes one congealed lump. According to 

 some authorities, it is not necessary to pour vinegar 

 into the vessel ; the result desired might be obtained 

 by attending to the other conditions of the process." 



It need scarcely be added that the therapeutic 

 virtues of the Pearl, extolled in the foregoing quota- 

 tion, are purely imaginary. 



Breeding Pearls, 



Amongst all the ideas which have been enter- 

 tained, both in ancient and more modern times, with 

 regard to Pearls — grotesque and fanciful though many 

 of them may be — none appears more romantic than 

 that of their reputed powers of re-production. 



In 1878, the subject of "Breeding Pearls" 



