PEARL-CULTURE AND PEARL-FARMING 287
naturalist
appeared and verbally explained his discovery. After various meetings,
the select committee approved the "art" and "recommended a
compensation of 12,000 dalars (about $4800). It does not appear that
the award was paid, and the following year the secret was purchased by
Peter Bagge, a Gothenberg merchant, for the sum of 6000 dalars. On 7th
September, 1762, King Adolph Frederick issued a grant to this merchant
"to practice the art without interference or competition." 1
Peter
Bagge was unable to exercise the rights which he had acquired, nor was
he able to dispose of them to advantage. On his death the memorandum of
the secret became lost, and it was not found until about 1821, when it
was discovered by a grandson, J. P. Bagge. Under the date of 27th
February, 1822, the King of Sweden confirmed to this grandson the
privileges which his ancestor had purchased in 1762. Fruitless efforts
were again made to dispose profitably of the rights either to
individuals or to the Swedish government.
The
details of Linnaeus's "secret" have never been published
authoritatively. In his "History of Inventions," Beckmann states that
before the naturalist thought of the profits that might accrue from his
discovery, he intimated the process in the sixth edition of his
"Systema naturae," wherein he states: "Margarita testae excrescentia
latere inferiore, dum exterius latus perforatum"2 "I once
told him," says Beckmann, "that I had discovered his secret in his own
writings; he seemed to be displeased, made no inquiry as to the
passage, and changed the discourse."3
In the second volume of his edition of "Linnaeus's Correspondence,"4 Sir J. E. Smith remarks : "Specimens of pearls so produced by art in the Mya margaritifera are
in the Linnean cabinet. The shell appears to have been pierced by
flexible wires, the ends of which perhaps remain therein." Referring
to this remark, J. P. Bagge comments: "This is the nearest I have seen
any one come to truth, but still it will be remarked by reading the
'secret' that more information is required to enable persons to
practice the art."
After
a thorough examination of the manuscripts and other material,
Professor Herdman concludes that the essential points of Linnaeus'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
