examination,
any artificial junction between the Pearls, or any trace of an
artificial cementing medium, must have been detected by some of the
acute critics who handled the gem. It is satisfactory however, to state
that the Cross came out from the ordeal withÂout shadow of suspicion,
and was pronounced to be a lusus natures of unique character.
How
it came about that these Pearls should be so regularly grouped
together, no one has yet been able to explain with satisfaction. Dr.
MacLarty has suggested, with some feasibility, that a fragment of
serrated sea-weed may have gained access to the shell, and that the
succession of teeth along the margin of the frond, may have determined
the deposition of nacre at regular intervals, so as to form a string of
Pearls running in a straight line. Whatever may have been the
determining cause, it seems dear that it was a perfectly natural one,
in no way resembling that artificial production of Pearls, which is
practised on the fresh-water mussels of China. The Cross was found in
the oyster, just as it was taken from its native element, without any
possibility of its having been subjected to human manipulation.
As
this remarkable cruciform group of Pearls was found in the southern
hemisphere, it has very appropriately received the name of the Southern
Cross,
V
