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The Southern Cross Pearl. 303
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the unique character of the Pearl, it was valued by the owners at £10,000 ; but this price is unreasonably high.
At
first sight it might be supposed that the component Pearls, or at least
some of them, had been artificially grouped together ; and it was
natural that many visitors, who had not had the opportunity of closely
inspecting the cross, should be disposed to entertain this opinion.
Considering the almost geometrical regularity in the grouping of the
Pearls, such an attitude of scepticism was pardonable enough. But
minute examination of the Cross under high magnifying power is
sufficient to dispel any notion of its artificial character.
It
is notable that when any natural object of striking novelty is
presented to a scientific observer, he is, by force of training,
disposed to hesitate before assenting to its genuineness. This is not
the first time that Australia has puzzled our cautious men of science
by the singularity of its native products. For instance, when the
duckbilled platypus ( Omithorhynchus faradoxicus) was
originally brought to this country, zoologists hesitated to believe
that so strange a creature could be natural, and were led to conclude
that a hoax must have been perpetrated, by cunningly grafting the bill
of a duck on to the body of a small
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