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CHAPTER XV.
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Coloured Pearls.
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Brighter
the offspring of the morning dew, The evening yields a duskier birth to
view ; The younger shells produce a whiter race, We greater age in
darker colours trace."
—Marbodus.
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Ν
the above quotation from the curious old " Lapidarium " of Marbodus.
following the translation given by the Rev. C. W. King, we have an
exposition in brief of the views of the ancients respecting the cause
of the various tints which are assumed by certain Pearls.
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It
was commonly held by the early naturalists, that the dark-coloured
Pearls had been formed either under the gloomy influence of the shades
of evening, or by an aged oyster. Dismissing these
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