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Margarita, Pearl

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MARGARITA.
salt, and left there until all the fish was consumed, leaving the pearls, " its kernels," at the bottom.
Those of the Bed Sea were the most transparent ; the Indian though of superior magnitude to all others, had somewhat of the lustre of Talc : the best quality were distinguished by the name of Exaluminati, i. e. transparent as a globule of alum. Some, but of bad quality, were found in the Mediterranean, in the Bosporus, in the Mya shell (muscles), off the coast of Acarnania in the Pinna-shell (scallop) : these last were ill-shaped, and opaque like marble. Those found about Cape Actium were better, though of small size, as were those of the Mauritanian coast. It had been ascertained that they were produced in Britain, though of small size and bad colour, for Julius Csesar " wished it to be understood that the breastplate dedicated by him to Venus Genetrix was made out of British pearls." Pearls are now procured in great abundance from the Tay (out of mussels), and are much used in English-made jewelry: being when recent hardly distinguish­able from the Oriental, but subject to the great defect of turning black by wear, and therefore of incomparably less value than the latter.1
Pearls in the ancient world held the highest rank amongst Precious Stones, and for an obvious reason : their beauty is en­tirely due to Nature, and is susceptible of no improvement from Art. But in the more valuable, and which are also the hardest kind of gems, the exact converse holds good ; their hidden beauties were but poorly elicited by the small degree of polish the Indian or Roman lapidary was able to give them. Hence the Persians, even to the times of M. Ben Mansur, assigned to Pearls the first rank amongst precious stones : the Romans indeed followed the Indian valuation, and placed them after the Diamond, but that merely on account of the virtues of the latter as an amulet, not for its beauty. It is on record also that the prices paid by the Romans for pearls of extraordinary size far exceeded those given for any other kind of gem.
Margarita, Pearl Page of 453 Margarita, Pearl
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