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Ch. 1: Introductory to Pearls

Ch. 1: Introductory to Pearls Page of 341 Ch. 1: Introductory to Pearls Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
18                                      Pearls.
gratify this passion, every realm of Nature has been put under contribution. Earth has been mined and seas have been explored, and both have yielded lavishly of their bounty. Among all the products which have been contributed by the latter, the Pearl stands pre-eminent and unrivalled for native beauty. Indeed, we find that from the very earliest times, Pearls have attracted the regard of man, and have been employed by him for purposes of personal adornment.
In whatever light Pearls may be regarded by the naturalist or man of science — whether as redundant deformities, the result of special and fortuitous circumstances, with which the Pearl-bearing oyster may be surrounded, or as the legitimate production of a function inherent in the mollusc—they are undoubtedly ranked by those skilled in precious stones, as costly products rivalling in value and surpassing in beauty the choicest gems of rock or water-course. By the fortunate possessors of wealth and beauty, they are highly esteemed as a means of judiciously in­vesting the one, and of chastely yet elegantly heightening the charms of the other.
Poets and philosophers too, have in all ages, recognized in Pearls the emblems most fitted to
Ch. 1: Introductory to Pearls Page of 341 Ch. 1: Introductory to Pearls
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