Chapter XV: Introduction (14)

After a thorough examination of the manuscripts and other material, Professor Herdman concludes that the essential points of Linnæus’s process are to make a very small hole in the shell and insert a round pellet of limestone fixed at the end of a fine silver wire, the hole being near the end of the shell so as to interfere only slightly with the mollusk, and the nucleus being kept free from the interior of the shell so that the resulting pearl may not become adherent to it by a deposit of nacre.[331]

Shortly after Linnæus communicated with the Swedish government and before his death, it was learned in Europe that the art of producing “culture pearls” by a somewhat similar process had been practised by the Chinese for centuries.[332] They used several forms of matrices or nuclei, but principally spheres of nacre and bits of flat metal or molded lead, which were not infrequently in conventional outline of Buddha. In the spring or early summer, these were introduced under the mantle of the living mollusk after the shell had been carefully opened a fraction of an inch, and the animal was then returned to the pond, or lake. The mollusk did its work in a leisurely way, like some people who have little to do, and many months elapsed before it was ready for opening and the removal of the pearly objects.

The most satisfactory description we have seen of this process appears to be that communicated nearly a century later to the London Society of Arts by Dr. D. T. Macgowan,[333] through H. B. M. plenipotentiary in China, from which this account is abridged and modified.

The industry is prosecuted in two villages near the city of Titsin, in the northern part of the province of Che-kiang, a silk-producing region. In May or June large specimens of the fresh-water mussels, _Dipsas plicatus_, are brought in baskets from Lake Tai-hu, about thirty miles distant. For recuperation from the journey, they are immersed in fresh water for a few days in bamboo cages, and are then ready to receive the matrices.

These nuclei are of various forms and materials, the most common being spherical beads of nacre, pellets of mud moistened with juice of camphor seeds, and especially thin leaden images, generally of Buddha in the usual sitting posture. In introducing these objects, the shell is gently opened with a spatula of bamboo or of pearl shell, and the mantle of the mollusk is carefully separated from one surface of the shell with a metal probe. The foreign bodies are then successively introduced at the point of a bifurcated bamboo stick, and placed, commonly in two parallel rows, upon the inner surface of the shell; a sufficient number having been placed on one valve, the operation is repeated on the other. As soon as released, the animal closes its shell, thus keeping the matrices in place. The mussels are then deposited one by one in canals or streams, or in ponds connected therewith, five or six inches apart, and where the depth is from two to five feet under water.

If taken up within a few days and examined, the nuclei will be found attached to the shell by a membranous secretion; later this appears to be impregnated with calcareous matter, and finally layers of nacre are deposited around each nucleus, the process being analagous to the formation of calculary concretions in animals of higher development. A ridge generally extends from one pearly tumor to another, connecting them all together. Each month several tubs of night soil are thrown into the reservoir for the nourishment of the animals. Great care is taken to keep goat excretia from the water, as it is highly detrimental to the mussels, preventing the secretion of good nacre or even killing them if the quantity be sufficient. Persons inexperienced in the management lose ten or fifteen per cent. by deaths; others lose virtually none in a whole season.

In November, the mussels are removed from the water and opened, and the pearly masses are detached by means of a knife. If the matrix be of nacre, this is not removed; but the earthen and the metallic matrices are cut away, melted resin or white sealing-wax poured into the cavity, and the orifice covered with a piece of shell. These pearly formations have some of the luster and beauty of true pearls, and are furnished at a rate so cheap as to be procurable by almost any one. Most of them are purchased by jewelers, who set them in various personal ornaments, and especially in decorations for the hair. Those formed in the image of Buddha are used largely for amulets as well as for ornaments. They are about half an inch long, and while in the shell have a bluish tint, which disappears with removal of the matrix. Quantities of them are sold as talismans to pilgrims at the Buddhist shrines about Pooto and Hang-chau.

In some shells the culture pearls are permitted to remain by the Chinese growers, for sale as curios or souvenirs; specimens of these have found their way into many public and private collections of Europe and America. These shells are generally about seven inches long and four or five inches broad, and contain a double or triple row of pearls or images, as many as twenty-five of the former and sixteen of the latter to each valve. That the animal should survive the introduction of so many irritating bodies, and in such a brief period secrete a covering of nacre over them all, is certainly a striking physiological fact. Indeed, some naturalists have expressed strong doubts as to its possibility, supposing the forms were made to adhere to the shell by some composition; but the examination of living specimens in different stages of growth, with both valves studded with them, has fully demonstrated its truth.

It is represented that in the northern part of the Che-kiang province about five thousand families are employed in this work in connection with rice-growing and silk-culture. To some of them it is the chief source of income, single families realizing as much as 300 silver dollars annually therefrom. In the village of Chung-kwan-o, the headquarters for culture pearls in China, a temple has been erected to the memory of the originator of this industry, Yu Shun Yang, who lived late in the thirteenth century, and was an ancestor of many persons now employed thereby.

The method in vogue in China for so many centuries has been the starting-point for similar attempts in various other countries. During the New Jersey pearling excitement in 1857, there were found several spherical pieces of nacre which had been introduced into Unios apparently for experimental pearl-culture; and in the collection of shells bequeathed to the United States National Museum by the late Dr. Isaac Lea, is a hemispherical piece of candle grease partly coated with pinkish nacre. Kelaart applied the Chinese method to the Ceylon pearl-oysters with much success in 1858. At the Berlin Fisheries Exhibition, in 1880, appeared the results of experiments in growing culture pearls in the river mussels in Saxony. Small foreign bodies had been introduced in the mantle, and others had been inserted between the mantle and the shell. These nuclei consisted of shell beads, unsightly pearls from other mussels, etc.; but unfortunately the shape of these was such that the mantle could not fit closely around them, consequently the result was so irregular as to be of no value except to show that German Unios as well as those of China could be made to cover foreign objects with pearly material.

Professor Herdman notes that, between 1751 and 1754, an inspector named Frederick Hedenberg received an annual salary “to inoculate the pearl-mussels of Lulea (in the northern part of Sweden) with ‘pearl-seeds’ which he manufactured, and then to replant the mussels. Certain pearls were produced by the inspector, which it is recorded were sold for some 300 silver dollars.”[334]

As noted by Broussonnet, in Finland artificial pearls were produced by inserting a round piece of nacre between the inner face of the shell and the mantle. The owner of the pearl fisheries at Vilshofen has succeeded in producing pearly figures by introducing into the mollusk flat figures of pewter, most of them representing fish in form.

In 1884, Bouchon-Brandely made experiments in pearl production at Tahiti. Gimlet holes about half an inch in diameter were drilled through different places in the shells of pearl-oysters, and through each of these holes a pellet of nacre or of glass was inserted and held by brass wire passing through a stopper of cork or burao wood, by means of which each opening was hermetically closed, so that the pellet was the only foreign substance protruding on the inside of the shell.[335] The oysters were returned to the sea without further injury, and after the lapse of a month the pellets were found covered with thin layers of nacre.

Artificial rearing-ponds for the development of pearl-oysters on the
Island of Espiritū Santo, Gulf of California
]

Trays containing small pearl-oysters prepared for placing at the
bottom of artificial rearing-ponds at Espiritū Santo Island, Gulf of
California
]

Experiments in growing pearls in the abalone or Haliotis were made in 1897 by Louis Bouton, an account of which was given at the meeting of the Paris Académie des Sciences in 1898.[336] The tenacity of life in this mollusk makes it especially desirable for experiments of this nature. Through small holes bored into the shell, pellets of mother-of-pearl were inserted and placed within the mantle, the small holes being afterward closed up. Other nacreous pellets were introduced directly into the bronchial cavity. The objects were soon covered with thin, pearly layers, resulting in a few months in spheres of much beauty, resembling somewhat the pearls naturally produced by this mollusk. In six months, according to M. Bouton, the layers became of sufficient thickness to be attractive. Within limitations, the size of the pearl produced is in proportion to the length of time it is allowed to remain within the mollusk. The results of the experiments seem to encourage further efforts in this line, and possibly in course of time there may be a profitable business in growing pearls in abalones on the Pacific coast of the United States. Indeed, the experiments in transplanting and cultivating the pearl-oyster in Australia leads one to fancy that the culture of that species in the warm coastal waters of America is by no means an impossibility.

Many other experiments along similar lines have been made more recently. An interesting feature of attempts made by Mr. Vane Simmonds of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, in 1896–1898, is that in order to avoid straining the adductor muscles by forcibly opening the shell while the mollusk resisted the intrusion, each selected Unio was exposed in the open air and sunshine until the valves opened; then a wooden wedge was carefully inserted in the opening, and the mollusk immediately immersed in water to revive it or to sustain life. After a few moments of immersion, the operator carefully raised the mantle from the shell, inserted the pellet of wax or other small article to be covered with nacre, drew the mantle to its normal position, removed the wedge, and returned the mollusk to a selected place in the stream at sufficient depth to avoid danger of freezing in winter.

Probably it would be more satisfactory to stupefy the mollusks by means of some chemical in order to insert the pellets. Marine mollusks have been successfully stupefied by slowly adding magnesium sulphate crystals to the sea water until the animals no longer respond to contact. If treatment is not too prolonged, they may be returned to normal sea water with good prospects of recovery. To stupefy fresh-water mollusks, either chloral hydrate or chlorosone may be employed, although the latter is expensive to use in great quantity. Dr. Charles B. Davenport, of the Carnegie Institution, suggests that it might be well to experiment with pouring ether or chloroform over them.

In Japan the production of these pearly formations in _Margaritifera martensi_, which is closely related to the Ceylon oyster, has developed into some prominence since 1890, and the results have been well advertised. The industry is located in Ago Bay, near the celebrated temple of Ise in the province of Shima, and gives employment to about one hundred persons. It is stated that the proprietor, Kokichi Mikimoto, has leased about one thousand acres of sea bottom, on which are a million oysters of this species, which yield from 30,000 to 50,000 culture pearls annually.

As described by Dr. K. Mitsukuri, the shoal portions of this area are used for breeding the oysters and raising them to maturity, and in the deeper parts—covered by several fathoms of water—the oysters are specially treated for producing the culture pearls. In the former, the spat is collected on small stones, weighing six or eight pounds each, placed during May or June. The following November these stones, with the attached spat or young, are removed, for protection from cold, to depths greater than five or six feet, where they remain for about three years. At the end of that period, the growing oysters are taken from the water, the shells opened slightly, and rounded bits of pearl shell or nacre are introduced under the mantle without injury to the mollusks. About 300,000 are thus treated annually, and placed in the deeper water at the rate of about one to each square foot of bottom area. After the lapse of about four years more, the oysters are removed from the water and opened, when a large percentage of the pellets are found covered on the upper or exposed surface with nacre of good luster.

Most of these culture pearls are button-shaped and weigh two or three grains each. Although somewhat attractive and superior to the culture pearls of China and other fresh waters, they by no means compare favorably with choice pearls. They are rarely, if ever, spherical, and only the upper surface is lustrous; consequently they serve only the purpose of half-pearls. A cross section shows the nacreous growth in a thin concentric layer, forming a fragile hemispherical cap, the concave wall of which is covered with a brownish granular secretion which prevents perfect adhesion. Compared with choice pearls, they are not only deficient in luster, but are fragile, and are beautiful only on the upper surface, and not available for necklaces. Good specimens sell for several dollars each, and some individuals reach $50 or more. Specimens exhibited at the Paris Exposition in 1900 were awarded a silver medal; at the St. Petersburg Exhibition in 1902 they were awarded a gold medal; at the Tokio Exhibition a grand prize, and a medal at the St. Louis Exposition in 1904. The awards were given in the fisheries, and not the gem divisions.

The work of Mikimoto is not the only attempt now being made in Japan to produce pearls. A letter from Dr. T. Nishikawa, of the Tokio Imperial University, states: “It is a great pleasure for me to tell you that I am studying pearl formation and pearl-oyster culture in the university laboratory, and recently I have got my pearl laboratory at Fukura, on the Island of Awaji, where I began the pearl-culture work this summer (1907). Fortunately, I found the cause of Japanese pearl formation, _i.e._, the reason why and how the pearl is produced in the tissue of an oyster. I made practical application of this theory with great prospects for producing the natural and true pearls at will.”

Among the most interesting of the pearl-culture enterprises are those of the Compañia Criadora de Concha y Perla, under the direction of Sr. Gaston J. Vives, in the Gulf of California. This company has an extensive station at San Gabriel, near La Paz, where breeding oysters are placed in prepared chests or cages for collecting the spat on trays. After remaining there for several weeks or months, the young mollusks are removed to prepared places (_viveros_) for further growth. Experiments are now made in depositing them between a series of parallel dams alternately touching each shore of a lagoon, thus developing a current of water over the oysters for conveying food to them, and thus hastening their growth.

In efforts to increase the output of pearls, attention has been given to the possibilities for extending the area and production of the reefs, and for stocking new areas and replenishing exhausted ones, thus bringing the pearl-bearing mollusks to maturity in greater abundance.

Although theoretically it does not seem a very difficult undertaking to cultivate the pearl-oysters by methods somewhat similar to the cultivation of edible oysters and clams, in no part of the world has this been successfully done on an extensive scale. While in certain minor cases, the areas of some species of pearl mollusks have been extended indirectly through man’s agency—as the range of the Red Sea pearl-oyster into the Mediterranean since the Suez Canal was opened—there is no well-known instance in which new areas have been abundantly populated through direct efforts.

In the chapter on the pearl fisheries of Asia are noted the hitherto unsuccessful efforts made in Ceylon and India to preserve the young and immature oysters on the storm-swept reefs by removing them to less exposed areas. This has received close attention from the Ceylon authorities during the last two years. Other practical measures which are recommended for that region include “cultching,” or the deposit of suitable solid material, such as shells or broken stone, to which the young oysters can attach themselves; thinning out overcrowded reefs, and cleaning the beds by means of a dredge, thereby removing starfish and other injurious animals. The attempts made by individuals and associations to extend the range of the reefs on the coast of Australia, among the Tuamotu Islands, in the Gulf of California, and some other localities, are noted in the appropriate chapters. But it may be stated that in most instances lack of adequate police protection has been not the least of the difficulties with which these experiments have had to contend.

Nor has much greater success followed upon efforts to prevent the exhaustion of the reefs and productive grounds through overfishing, except in those instances in which the government exercises a proprietory interest and determines the season, the area to be fished, and the quantity of mollusks to be removed. The most prominent instance of this is in Ceylon, where the fishery has been restricted to such seasons and periods as appeared to insure the maximum yield of pearls. Without restriction upon the fishery, the pearl-oyster in that populous region would doubtless become almost extinct in a few years. Another instance of proprietory interest on the part of the government is in some of the German States, where pearl fishing has been regulated and restricted for centuries. But there the sewage from cities and factories has accomplished almost as effectively, if less rapidly, what unrestricted fishing would have done.

Much attention has been given to the subject of pearl-culture in Bavaria, where the government has granted a small subsidy to encourage this industry, and a model pearl-mussel bank has been established in one of the brooks for the rational culture of the mussels.

On the Australian coast, the only theoretical protection of consequence is the restriction on taking small or immature oysters; but, owing to the great area over which the fisheries are prosecuted there, it has not been possible to enforce the regulations. At some of the Pacific islands and elsewhere, interdictions exist as to use of certain apparatus of capture, but this is intended for the purpose of reserving the industry to dependent natives rather than for protecting the reefs. Several efforts have been made to insure adequate protection for the Unios in our American rivers, but nothing in this direction has yet been accomplished by legislative enactment, except in Illinois.

Reference has already been made to the parasitic stage of Unios.[337] The attachment of the newly-hatched mollusks to the gills or fins of a fish is entirely a matter of chance, and unless this takes place they die within a few days. Under natural conditions the fish thus infected will rarely be found carrying as many of the parasitic Unios as they can without serious injury. If the fish are placed in a tank or a pond containing large numbers of newly-hatched Unios, it is possible to bring about the attachment of hundreds of them for every one that would be found there by chance of nature. A fish six inches in length may thus be made to carry several hundred parasitic Unios, and thus a thousand fish artificially infected may do the work of several hundred thousand in a state of nature. Experiments with small numbers of fish under observation in the laboratory indicate that their infection on a large scale is entirely possible, and the experiment by Messrs. Lefevre and Curtis now in progress at La Crosse, Wisconsin, in which over 25,000 young fish have been infected, gives every indication that such work may be begun even with the scanty knowledge now possessed.

Since it has already been shown that the production of pearls is an abnormal condition, it does not follow that an increase in the quantity of mollusks would necessarily result in a corresponding increase in the yield of pearls. Indeed, it might even be that the artificial conditions bringing about an enhanced prosperity and abundance of the mollusks would result in a corresponding decrease in the product of gems, the improved surroundings impairing if not destroying the conditions to which the pearls owe their origin. This has resulted in directing efforts toward abnormally increasing the abundance of pearls in a definite number of mollusks.

The development of the parasitic theory of pearl formation has naturally invited attention to the possibilities of increasing the yield of pearls by inoculating healthy mollusks with distomid parasites. It does not appear that this has yet advanced beyond the experimental stage, and virtually all that has been accomplished has been set forth in the chapter on the origin of pearls. It seems that there are great possibilities in the artificial production along these lines; and that under skilful management it could be made a profitable industry, especially if carried on concurrently with the systematic cultivation of mother-of-pearl shells.

Although there is scientific basis for the belief that it may be possible in time to bring about pearl growth in this manner, the public should not be too hasty in financing companies soliciting capital for establishing so-called “pearl farms.” Every once in a while announcement is made in the public press of wonderful success which has been attained by some investigator, who surrounds his discovery with as much mystery as enveloped the Keeley motor, and who is as anxious to sell stock as was the owner of that mythical invention. A prospectus of one of these “pearl syndicates,” which is now before us, claims to “increase and hasten pearl production by forcing the oyster, through doctoring the water in which it is immersed and also by irritating the mollusk itself.” So far as the writers are aware, aside from the inexpensive but somewhat attractive culture pearls, no commercial success has yet followed the many attempts at artificial production.

This chapter should not close without reference to the so-called “breeding pearls,” probably the most curious of all theories of pearl growth, regarding which many inquiries have been made. Throughout the Malay Archipelago there exists a generally accepted belief that if several selected pearls of good size are sealed in a box with a few grains of rice for nourishment they will increase in number as well as in size. If examined at the expiration of one year, small pearls may be found strewn about the bottom of the box, according to the theory; and in some instances the original pearls themselves will be found to have increased in size. If again inclosed for a further period of a year or more, the adherents of the theory say, the seed-pearls will further increase in size, and additional seed-pearls will form. Furthermore, the grains of rice will present the appearance of having been nibbled or as though a rodent had taken a bite in the end of each.

It is claimed that the breeding pearls are obtained from several species of mollusks, mostly from the Margaritifera, but also from the Tridacna (giant clam) and the Placuna (window shell). While cotton is the usual medium in which the pearls and rice are retained, some collectors substitute fresh water and yet others prefer salt water. It seems that rice is considered essential to success.

The earliest account we have seen of this extraordinary belief was given by Dr. Engelbert Kæmpfer,[338] who was connected with the Dutch embassy to Japan from 1690 to 1696, and since that time it has been referred to by many travelers in the Malay Archipelago.

A correspondent in the time-honored “Notes and Queries,” 20th September, 1862, writes:

Nearly five years ago, while staying with friends in Pulo Penang
(Straits of Malacca), I was shown by the wife of a prominent
merchant five small pearls, which had increased and multiplied in
her possession. She had set them aside for about 12 months in a
small wooden box, packed in soft cotton and with half a dozen grains
of common rice. On opening the box at the expiration of that time,
she found four additional pearls, about the size of a small pinhead
and of much beauty, which I saw and examined not long after the lady
made the discovery. While my story may be received with laughter, I
can most solemnly assure you of the truth of my having seen these
pearls, and I have not the slightest doubt of the perfect
truthfulness of the lady who possessed them. I questioned an eminent
Malay merchant of Penang on this subject, and he assured me that one
of his daughters had once possessed a similar growth of pearls.[339]

Notwithstanding the apparent absurdity of this pearl-breeding theory, belief in it appears to be not only sincere but wide-spread, as can be attested by any one familiar with affairs in the archipelago. A critical examination into the matter was made in 1877 by Dr. N. B. Dennys, curator of the Raffles Museum at Singapore, the result of which was communicated to the Straits branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, 28th February, 1878.[340] From his numerous quotations of persons who gave the results of their experiences we extract two instances. One gentleman had 120 small pearls in addition to the five breeding ones with which the experiment had started twenty years before, and during the entire period the box had not been molested except that it was opened occasionally for inspection by interested persons. Another experimentor inclosed three breeding pearls with a few grains of rice on 17th July, 1874; on opening the box on 14th July, 1875, nine additional pearls were discovered, and the three original ones appeared larger.

The belief has many curious variations. It is stated that in Borneo and the adjacent islands, many of the fishermen reserve every ninth pearl regardless of its size, and put the collection in a small bottle which is kept corked with a dead man’s finger. According to Professor Kimmerly, nearly every burial-place along the Borneo coast has been desecrated in searching for “corks” for these bottles, and almost every hut has its dead-finger bottle, with from ten to fifty “breeding pearls” and twice that number of rice grains.[341] A correspondent at Sandakan, North Borneo, writes that at the time of his death at Hongkong in 1901, Dr. Dennys had in his possession a small box containing “breeding pearls”; but these disappeared after his death, and his brother, the crown solicitor, was unable to find them. This correspondent also states that the Ranee of Sarawak, a British protectorate in western Borneo, has a collection of “breeding pearls” numbering about two hundred, and that this is the only large collection known at present.

As contrasted with abundant and unquestionably sincere testimony that pearls do “breed,” it may be stated that absolutely no result has followed one or two native experiments made under supervision. While it must be admitted that negative evidence is always weaker than positive, and twenty failures would be outweighed by one successful experiment, yet the scientific objections to the possibility of pearls “breeding” cannot be overcome. The phenomenon is doubtless one of those curiosities of natural history in which some important factor has been overlooked.

Another curious theory is that peculiar pearls continue to grow after removal from the mollusk in which they originate. Quite recently it was reported from New Durham, North Carolina, that a pearl found there in 1896 had been growing continually since it was found and removed from the water. Unfortunately, it was weighed only when the last observation was made, and its increased size doubtless existed only in the imagination of its possessor.

XII

MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PEARLS

XII
MYSTICAL AND MEDICINAL PROPERTIES OF PEARLS

Divers are the virtues of gems; some give favor in the sight of
lords; some protect against fire; others make people beloved; others
give wisdom; some render men invisible; others repel lightning; some
baffle poisons; some protect and augment treasures, and others cause
that husbands should love their wives.

Arabic version of Solomon’s writings.

While no special gems are mentioned in the tribute which the Arabs credit to Solomon, it seems that pearls must certainly have been included, for in nearly all countries where these gems have been prized and from the earliest period, they have been credited with mystic properties and healing virtues.

In the first chapter of this book, reference was made to the Atharvaveda, dating from at least 2400 years ago, and its allusion to the use of an amulet of pearl shell and of pearls among the Hindus in bestowing long life and prosperity upon young Brahmanical disciples. As this amulet is fastened upon the youth, the following hymn is recited, according to this ancient Veda of the Atharvans:

Born of the wind, the atmosphere, the lightning, and the light, may
this pearl shell, born of gold, protect us from straits!

With the shell which was born in the sea, at the head of bright
substances, we slay the Rakshas and conquer the Atrins [devouring
demons].

With the shell [we conquer] disease and poverty; with the shell,
too, the Sadanvas. The shell is our universal remedy; the pearl
shall protect us from straits!

Born in the heavens, born in the sea, brought on from the river
[Sindhu], this shell, born of gold, is our life-prolonging amulet.

The amulet, born from the sea, a sun, born from Vritra [the cloud],
shall on all sides protect us from the missiles of the gods and the
Asuras!

Thou art one of the golden substances, thou art born from Soma [the
moon]. Thou art sightly on the chariot, thou art brilliant on the
quiver.

(May it prolong our lives!) The bone of the gods turned into pearl;
that, animated, dwells in the waters. That do I fasten upon thee
unto life, luster, strength, longevity, unto a life lasting a
hundred autumns. May the amulet of pearl protect thee![342]

The mystical Taoists, in their pursuit of immortality, made much of pearls as an important ingredient in formulæ for perpetuating youth. According to an old Taoist authority, in preparing one of these elixirs, an extra long pearl which has been worn for many years is steeped in some infusion of malt, or a preparation of serpents’ gall, honeycomb, and pumice-stone. When the pearl becomes plastic, it is drawn out to the length of two or three feet, cut into suitable lengths, and formed into pills, the taking of which renders food thenceforth unnecessary.[343]

The myth of the dragon and the pearl has been a far-reaching theme of the artists in Japan and China, whether in color, metal, or stone. There has been much written as to how the myth became so fixed in the minds of the Orientals, and Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria, who has made an exhaustive study of the myth of the dragon in all its phases, has very courteously communicated to us the following facts. Personally he had never been able to learn of a true or clear description of the origin of the myth other than the well-recorded legend given by Legge in the “Sacred Books of the East” (Vol. XL, p. 211), in which there is a quotation from Shuangtze, a writer of the fourth century before Christ, who says: “Near the Ho river there was a poor man, who supported his family by weaving rushes. His son, when diving in a deep pool, found a pearl worth a thousand ounces of silver. The father said: ‘Bring a stone and beat it in pieces. A pearl of this value must have been in a pool nine khung deep and under the chin of the black dragon. That you were able to get it must have been owing to your having found him asleep. Let him awake, and the consequences will not be small.’” Prince Rupprecht says:

This legend has nothing to do with the illustration to which you
refer; it belongs to a cycle of myths concerning a stone in the head
of a serpent, or the crown of the king of the serpents or dragons;
myths which also exist in Germany since the days of old. I should
rather be inclined to think that the commonly accepted pearl between
the two dragons is not a pearl at all. At least this pearl is always
surrounded by ornaments in the shape of flames or claws, and
Professor Hirth discovered on such a representation in woodcut, an
explanation of the flames by the sign for Yangsui, a very ancient
kind of metallic mirrors, of concave form, that were used to produce
the heavenly fire.

JAPANESE LEGEND OF THE DRAGON AND THE PEARL, IDEALIZED IN JADE

Heber R. Bishop Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art
]

This explanation is probably erroneous and due to a misunderstanding
of the signs for flames. In my opinion, another explanation, that
the pearl is not really a pearl but a spider, is nearer to the
truth. As an argument in favor of this theory the following sentence
may be quoted from an encyclopedia of the eleventh century
(“Pieu-tzi-lei,” chap. 223): “The pearl of a fish is its eye, the
pearl of a tortoise is its foot, the pearl of the spider is its
belly.” Pearl, as well as spider, are both called in Chinese by the
same word but are written in a different way.

I, for my part, believe that the pearl is the belly not indeed of a
spider, but of Garuda, the eagle of Vishnu, known in the old Hindu
mythology as the foe of the Vagas, beings with human bodies and the
tails of serpents. At least, I found on an old Chinese gateway,
dating back to the times of the Mongol emperors, a sculpture showing
the contest between Garuda and the Vagas. On another sculpture of
the late King epoch the Vagas are already changed into dragons, and
the wings, the limbs and the head of Garuda have become quite
insignificant, while his belly is prominent like a ball.

A beautiful metaphor occurs in ancient Chinese writings, in the Book of the Later Han,[344] for instance, which regards this gem as the hidden soul of the oyster.

There is no end of legends and myths regarding the pearl in oriental literature. One fable credits it with a peculiar magical power: by speaking the right word, a spirit can be called therefrom which makes the owner a possessor of all the happiness of the earth. Browning notes this in two exquisite stanzas, “A Pearl, a Girl,” published on the day of his death in 1889, in which he compares this characteristic with a woman’s love called forth by the mystic word.

A simple ring with a single stone.
To the vulgar eye no stone of price;
Whisper the right word, that alone—
Forth starts a sprite, like fire from ice,
And lo, you are lord (says an Eastern scroll)
Of heaven and earth, lord whole and sole,
Through the power in a pearl.

A woman (’tis I this time that say)
With little the world counts worthy praise;
Utter the true word—out and away
Escapes her soul: I am wrapt in blaze,
Creation’s lord, of heaven and earth,
Lord whole and sole—by a minute’s birth—
Through the love in a girl.

In the folk-song of Servia is a pretty little poem which testifies to the love they bear to pearls:

A youth unmated prays to God,
To turn him to pearls in the sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
That so they might gather him into their laps,
And string him on a fine green thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
That he might hear what each one said,
And whether his loved one spoke of him.

His prayer was granted and he lay
Turned to pearls in the dark blue sea,
Where the maidens come to fill their urns;
Then quickly they gather him into their laps,
And string him on a green silk thread,
And wear him pendant from the neck;
So he hears what each one says of her own
And what his loved one says of him.[345]

In the days when romance and chivalry held sway in Europe, pearls and other favors were presented by ladies for the brave knights to wear at tournaments. And we are told in the Arthurian legends how Elaine, “the lily maid of Astolat,” gave to Sir Lancelot “a red sleeve of scarlet, embroidered with great pearls,” for him to wear on his helmet: and “then to her tower she climbed and took the shield, there kept it and so lived in fantasy”; while he fought and won at the tilt, “wearing her scarlet sleeve, tho’ carved and cut, and half the pearls away.”[346]

The sweet sentiment of purity associated with the pearl ennobles it above all other gems. Rabanus Maurus, archbishop of Mainz, wrote, about 850, that “mystically, the pearl signifies the hope of the Kingdom of Heaven, or charity and the sweetness of celestial life.”[347] True, it was not among the twelve gems which adorned the breastplate of the high priest of the Temple, symbolical of the twelve apostles. A Father of the Church—St. Augustine, we believe—explains this by saying that it was reserved for a more sacred office, that of representing Christ himself.

Pearl signifies purity, innocence, humility, and a retiring spirit. All stones of the gray color of the pearl have the significances which are given to this beautiful gem.[348]

Unlike other gems, the pearl comes to us perfect and beautiful, direct from the hand of nature. Other precious stones receive careful treatment from the lapidary, and owe much to his art. The pearl, however, owes nothing to man. Perhaps this has much to do with the sentiments we cherish for it. It touches us with the same sense of simplicity and sweetness as the mountain daisy or the wild rose. It is absolutely a gift of nature, on which man cannot improve. We turn from the brilliant, dazzling ornament of diamonds or emeralds to a necklace of pearls with a sense of relief, and the eye rests upon it with quiet, satisfied repose and is delighted with its modest splendor, its soft gleam, borrowed from its home in the depths of the sea. It seems truly to typify steady and abiding affection, which needs no accessory or adornment to make it more attractive. And there is a purity and sweetness about it which makes it especially suitable for the maiden.

The idea of pearly purity is inseparably linked with the name Margaret, derived from the Persian _Murwari_ (pearl, or child of light) through the Greek μαργαρίτης. This name—beautiful in sound as well as in origin—is popular in all European countries, and likewise are its abbreviations and diminutives: in Italian, Margherita and Rita; in French, Marguerite, Margot, and Groten; in German, Margarethe, Gretchen, and Grethel; and in English, Margaret, Marjorie, Madge, Maggie, Peggy, etc.

The use of the word as a proper name among the early Christians was doubtless suggested by the sweet simplicity and loveliness of the pearl, and by the beautiful symbolical references to this gem in the Scriptures; and the meaning of the name has been strengthened by the pure lives and the good deeds of the many beautiful Margarets in all lands, including the virgin martyr, St. Margaret of Antioch, “the mild maid of God” referred to in the Liturgy, who, before the fifth century, was the embodiment of feminine innocence and faith overcoming evil, and who is often represented wearing a string of pearls; also St. Margaret Ætheling of the eleventh century, who endeared the name in Scotland, was canonized in 1215, and was adopted as the patron saint of Scotland in 1673; and Margaret, “Pearl of Bohemia,” so beloved by the Danes.

Especially among the Germans has the name a tender significance; with them it is symbolical of maidenly sweetness and purity associated with richness of womanhood, such as was typified by Goethe in the heroine of his “Faust.” This idea may have impelled Wordsworth in the selection of a name for the lovely, girlish character in his “Excursion”; and Tennyson for his “Sweet pale Margaret,” and likewise Scott for “Ladye Margaret, the flower of Teviot.” With the memory of these lives and characters before her, many a loving mother has crystallized the hope entertained for a baby daughter by enriching her with this beautiful name.

Poets seem never to tire of using the pearl as a symbol of perfection in form, in purity, in luster, and in sweetness. But probably none has made a more lovely comparison than Owen Meredith:

As pure as a pearl,
And as perfect: a noble and innocent girl.[349]

The Oriental poets unite with those of the West in their love for this gem, and those gifted writers are lavish in its use. Let us but add the lament of Shabl Abdullah on the death of Nozami:

Nozami’s gone, our fairest pearl is lost.
From purest dew, kind Heaven had given her birth,
And then had fashioned her the pearl supreme.
She softly shone, but hidden from mankind,
So God has now restored her to her shell.

Far more crude, but possibly equally pathetic, is that old epitaph from Yorkshire, England:

In shells and gold pearls are not kept alone,
A Margaret here lies beneath a stone.

In the seventeenth century, Pierre de Rosnel wrote in a burst of enthusiasm:

The pearl is a jewel so perfect that its excellent beauty demands
the love and esteem of the whole universe. Suidas expresses himself
in regard to it thus: “The possession of the pearl is one of love’s
greatest delights; the delight of possessing it suffices to feed
love.” In a painting, Philostratus, who had the same ideas, has
represented cupids with bows enriched with pearls; and the ancients
were all agreed to dedicate the pearl to Venus. Now, to my thinking,
the reason for their so doing was, that inasmuch as this goddess of
love, the fairest of all divinities, is descended from heaven and is
formed of the sea, so in like manner the pearl—the loveliest of all
gems—is formed in the sea and is the offspring of the dew of heaven.
But he that would learn more of the excellence of the pearl, let him
inquire of the ladies, who will relate much more in its praise than
I can write, and who will doubtless confess that nothing else so
well adorns them.[350]

Emblematic as the pearl is of maidenly purity and sweetness, it is deemed especially appropriate as a wedding gift. This use dates from the earliest dawn of Hindu civilization, when the beloved Krishna drew it from the sea to decorate his beautiful daughter on her nuptial day. And among the Hindus not uncommonly the presentation of a virgin pearl and its piercing forms part of the marriage ceremony. In most of the European royal weddings in recent years, pearls have been prominent among the bridal gifts; nor have they been overlooked among the presents to American brides, including one much in the public print about 1906, for whom a necklace of them was selected by a neighboring republic as an appropriate present.

The dedication of the pearl to love and marriage appears to have been recognized by the artistic Greeks. One of the choicest engravings preserved from classic times is a magnificent sardonyx showing the marriage of Cupid and Psyche, in which the lovers are united by what some authorities consider a string of pearls—emblematic of conjugal bonds—by means of which the god Hymen leads them to the nuptial couch.[351] This engraved gem now forms one of the choicest objects in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, having been purchased at the sale of the Marlborough gems, London, 1898, at a cost of about $10,000.

And yet in Western countries the ill omen of pearls as bridal ornaments has been widely recognized, these determining the tears that will be shed in the married life. As Milton says, referring to the Marchioness of Winchester:

And those pearls of dew she wears,
Prove to be presaging tears.

It was told that when the Empress Eugénie of France was finishing her toilet preparatory to her wedding in Notre Dame in 1853, a personal attendant reminded her of the omen, and begged that she refrain from wearing her pearl necklace on that occasion. Eugenie paid no heed to the warning and wore the beautiful jewels just the same; and, as all the world knows, her life has been one long tragedy. Since that necklace was a lengthy one, containing very many pearls, the bride who wears only a few on her wedding day need not dread the adage so much, for, unfortunately, no woman’s life is wholly free from grief; and most brides would doubtless risk a few tears rather than refuse to wear a wedding gift of pearls.

It was a very old idea that to dream of pearls betokens tears. A suggestion of this occurs in John Webster’s “Duchess of Malfi” (1623),