The
color of a pearl is determined by that of the conchiolin, as appears
from its remaining unchanged after decalcification. While generally it
is the same as that of the mother-of-pearl at the corresponding point
of the shell in which it is formed, there are many exceptions to this,
and the reasons for the varying tints and colors are probably to be
found in the changes in position of the pearl, the ingredients of the
water, the health of the mollusk, accidents of various kinds, etc.
These factors will be referred to later in discussing the pearls from
different mollusks and regions; but in general it is no more easy to
explain the colors of pearls than it is to say why one rose is white
and another is yellow.
Medieval
writers had much to say regarding unripe or immature pearls, likening
them to eggs in the body of a hen, which follow a uniform rate of
growth ; and this idea is not entirely absent even in contemporaneous
writings. However, it is an interesting fact that the humble mollusks,
like the five wise virgins with prepared lamps, keep their gems perfect
in beauty and luster at all times. It matters not whether the pearl be
removed when it is only the size of a pin-head or not until it reaches
that of a marble, it is at all times a complete, a ripe, a perfect
pearl, and the largest surpasses the smallest only in the
characteristics and properties which are incidental to size. Imparting
perfection and completion every day, every moment, the mollusk
utilizes the added time simply in enlarging its beautiful work.
Although
art has made wonderful progress in that direction, the pearl, like
truth, is not easily imitated. There is as much difference between the
ubiquitous imitations and the perfect gem as there is between a
chromolithograph and a silvery Corot, or between the effects of
cosmetics and the freshness of youth. While to the unskilled, or under
superficial inspection, the false has some of the properties of the
genuine, it is only necessary to place them side by side to make the
difference apparent. However clever the imitation may be in color, in
form, and in density, it always lacks in richness, in sweetness, and in
blended iridescence.
