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xii A Necessary Introduction
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what
happens to them after they have left the crucible of the earth's depths
wherein they were fashioned, whereas the scientist is not in the least
interested in the history of gems as they pass from hand to hand—from
miner to cutter, from merchant to millionaire, from courtesan to
receiver of stolen goods—shaping human lives as they go.
You
may think, and rightly, that if the scientist who studies gems cannot
see all round his subject, then neither can the merchant for his part
have the scientific approach. But if the scientist has the theory, I
have the practice; and while no scientist could hope, short of devoting
as many years as I have done to trading in precious stones, to add my knowledge to his own, I was more fortunate, for theory can always be read up and I could easily pick the professors' brains.
Rather
late in life I had become an author and had achieved a modest success
with two books which were partly autobiographical and partly woven
round the lore of pearls. Now the writer, old and seasoned in other
walks of life though he may well be, has entered a bourne of hopes and
aspirations whence no traveller returns, and henceforth ink flows for
blood in his veins. This disease of authorship, which has become rife
in all the civilised countries of the world, had made a permanent
victim of me when I made the personal acquaintance of my American
publisher.
There
is a tide in my affairs as in those of other men. Just as I was casting
about for the theme of another book my publisher happened to mention
that there was no recent book dealing with precious stones in that
popular
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