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.
