742 fearls and Pearl Fisheries. [July, 
And, happy now, the grace did magnif 
Which thrust it forth (as it had feared) to die; 
Until again, ‘ I perish quite,’ it said, 
Torn by rude diver from its ocean bed. 
Vain apprehensions! soon it gleamed a gem, 
Chief jewel in a monarch’s diadem.” 
In later times, with a nearer approximation of the true cause, 
the older naturalists attributed the origin of pearls to disease. In 
explanation of it they told that the waters on the coasts where 
pearls were fished for were very unhealthy, and that the na- 
tives there would not eat the flesh of those oysters which con- 
tained pearls, regarding them as diseased, hard and ill-tasted, 
while those in which there were no pearls were well flavoredand 
comestible. These notions appear to have had their basis 
fancy only. 
Pearls are mentioned in the New Testament in several places, 
but only once in the Old Testament,! though other versions of 
the story of the Queen of Sheba speak of her dress as adorned 
with pearls. The oldest use of pearls was doubtless by prehis- 
toric people. Their remains, still recognizable and brilliant, but 
ready to fall into powder, have been found in prehistoric mounds 
and burial places in both hemispheres. It is doubtful, howeve 
if they would attain any very great antiquity in such situations, 
being very perishable; and we read of the pearls worn by UY 
daughters of Stilicho? when, in 1526, after more than 1100 yar 
their tomb was opened, the contents, jewels and stuffs, all wer 
found in perfect preservation except some pearls which were © 
duced to extreme brittleness. alued 
The Assyrians and Babylonians are said to have highly gat 
pearls, with which they became acquainted through their mn 
course with the peoples bordering on the Persian gulf. PH 
_ were little known in Greece until after the defeat of Darius, T 
many were found in the plunder of his camp. Later eae 
Romans prized them highly, and transmitted them to Pe 
dren as heirlooms. The importance of the person was 1 em 
by the size of the pearls she wore, and Pliny intimates ts 
large pearl was thus as good a protector for a woman 
the street as a lictor walking before her. Pompey bro 
ught from 
16; 3% 
1 Math. VII, 6; VIH; xi, 46. 1 Tim. 1,9. Rev. XVII, 45 XVIII, 12, 59? 
21. Job xxvii, 18. 
? Roman general under Theodosius ; died A. D. 408. 
