PEARLS 589 



beauty. Old, much-worn pearls never possess the freshness and beauty of newly-fished 

 maiden-pearls so-called. Not only do pearls, which are strung together, suffer from the 

 rubbing of one upon another, and from the friction of the string, but the organic 

 constituent, like all other animal substances, in course of time completely decays. An 

 example of the way pearls are affected by the lapse of time is furnished by the state of 

 those found in the grave of a daughter of Stilicho, a Roman statesman and general. The 

 pearls had lain in the grave from the year 400 to the year 1544, a period of eleven centuries, 

 and when brought to the light of day they fell instantly to dust. In this respect, therefore, 

 pearls ure in no way comparable with the unchanging pi-ecious stone, which preserves its 

 brilliancy and lustre through age after age. 



The perishable nature of pearls, as much a result of their softness as of their organic 

 origin, is the more regrettable, seeing that when once the outer surface of a pearl is 

 damaged its beauty is irrevocably lost. A precious stone which has sustained serious 

 injury can be restored to all its original beauty by re-cutting and re-polishing, but not so 

 with a pearl. These beautiful objects, therefore, need to be handled with great care, in 

 order to preserve the surface layer in its natural condition for as long as possible. This 

 outer layer \\hen discoloured or damaged may, indeed, be sometimes peeled off, a perfect 

 but smaller pearl being thus obtained. This operation, however, requires all the care of a 

 skilled artist, and even then is seldom completely successful. 



The surface of a pearl, like that of mother-of-pearl, is not perfectly smooth, but 

 shows many irregularities, elevations, and depressions, delicate ridges and grooves, and so 

 forth ; these are all of microscopic dimensions, and, as we shall see further on, have an 

 important bearing on the appearance of the pearl. 



The surface especially exhibits a peculiar lustre, which is not very brilliant, but 

 beautiful and delicate, and which defies verbal description ; it is known to jewellers as the 

 " orient " of a pearl, corresponding to the " fire " of a diamond. This pearly lustre is due, 

 as in mother-of-pearl itself, to the laminated structure already described. 1^'he not 

 wholly transparent, but very translucent layers lying near the surface allow some light to 

 pass through, which is reflected outwards again from the deeper layers. This light reaches 

 the eye in company with that reflected directly from the surface, and the two together 

 produce the impression which we have learnt to call a pearly lustre. The thinner the 

 calcareous lamina; are the more beautiful is the lustre, and the more valuable the pearl. 



Individual pearls differ considerably in lustre ; those formed by marine molluscs are 

 far superior to the pearls formed by the fresh- water pearl-musse), which, compared with the 

 former, appear dull and lifeless. Pearls which are unusually brilliant are also somewhat 

 harder than more ordinary specimens, this character depending upon the more or less 

 intimate association of the single layers. 



As we have already seen, the lustre and brilliancy of pearls disappear with the lapse 

 of time, and these objects, therefore, undergo a constant depreciation in value. Many 

 efforts have been made to discover a means whereby the freshness and beauty of maiden- 

 pearls may be restored, but in vain. Any attempt to remove the outer coat of a pearl, 

 whose lustre has been dimmed by time, is doomed to disappointment, for the underlying 

 coat is usually as dull and lustreless as the eye of a dead fish. It is, therefore, very rarely 

 that a dull pearl can be improved by peeling off its outer coat. Attempts to restore their 

 pristine beauty to old and faded pearls have been made by immersing them in the sea for 

 long periods, by allowing them to be picked up and eaten by hens and doves, and in other 

 foolish and irrational ways, but unsuccessfully. The inimitable freshness and delicacy 

 of maiden-pearls once lost is lost for ever. 



