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Pearls-William John Dakin · For the Birds

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Speaker 1: Preface of Pearls. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox
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Speaker 1: recordings in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer,
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Speaker 1: please visit LibriVox dot org. Recording by Marianne Spiegel Pearls
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Speaker 1: by W. J. Dakin Preface. No one can be better
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Speaker 1: aware of the defects in this little book than the author.
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Speaker 1: It has been written with a view to giving a
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Speaker 1: summary of the most important facts about pearls, pearl fishing,
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Speaker 1: and pearl formation, and it is hoped by the writer
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Speaker 1: that any sins of omission will be pardoned. There is
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Speaker 1: no lack of literature on the subject of pearls, and
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Speaker 1: some of the volumes which have been published on this
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Speaker 1: subject are themselves of great value. They do not seem, however,
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Speaker 1: to be easily within reach of the average reader, and
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Speaker 1: they are nearly always written from non biological points of view.
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Speaker 1: The works on pearl formation are, on the other hand,
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Speaker 1: usually very technical. The structure and natural history of the
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Speaker 1: shell fish in which pearls are produced are hardly ever
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Speaker 1: described outside scientific treatises. Hence the chapter on this subject.
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Speaker 1: It seemed impossible to the author to describe the processes
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Speaker 1: of pearl formation without reference to the structure of the shellfish.
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Speaker 1: If it were only for common knowledge, a description of
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Speaker 1: the anatomy of a mollusk should be interesting to the
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Speaker 1: general reader, for very little idea of the structure of
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Speaker 1: even an utible oyster or muscle seems to prevail. The
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Speaker 1: book has been written by a biologist from the point
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Speaker 1: of view of a biologist, and owes much to previous
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Speaker 1: writers who have treated the subject. From other sides to
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Speaker 1: Professor Herdmann, my former teacher, I owe very much, and
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Speaker 1: his descriptions of the Ceylon banks have been very largely utilized.
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Speaker 1: The writing up has only been accomplished through the assistance
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Speaker 1: rendered by my wife, for by a curious coincidence, it
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Speaker 1: has to be written under the stress and strain of
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Speaker 1: preparations for a removal to one of the countries referred
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Speaker 1: to on many occasions in the text Western Australia. Mister H. Jackson,
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Speaker 1: Master of Science, has very kindly undertaken the labor of
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Speaker 1: proof reading. Without this help, considerable delay would have occurred
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Speaker 1: in the publication. To mister Chambers of University College London,
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Speaker 1: I owe several interesting references to pearls in the classics,
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Speaker 1: and doctor Johnstone of Liverpool has read certain parts of
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Speaker 1: the manuscript. If I have occasionally followen into the pitfalls
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Speaker 1: of becoming too technical, I trust that my readers will
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Speaker 1: turn to the glossary, and I earnestly hope that it
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Speaker 1: will help to clear up the difficulty. W J. D
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Speaker 1: Rms Mongolia, Mediterranean, February nineteen thirteen, end of preface, Chapter
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Speaker 1: one of Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox recording
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Speaker 1: is in the public domain. Read by Marianne, Chapter one.
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Speaker 1: The history of pearls, the use of pearls as jewels
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Speaker 1: and their recognition as objects of value date back into
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Speaker 1: the far beyond, when the history trees of ancient peoples
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Speaker 1: were transcribed upon papyrus. It is very likely that pearls
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Speaker 1: were amongst the earliest gems known to man, and this
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Speaker 1: is not surprising when one considers that the earliest dwellers
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Speaker 1: by the sea probably fed upon the shell fish which
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Speaker 1: produce such objects. The modern recognition of the pearl dates
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Speaker 1: back to about three hundred b C. And was due,
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Speaker 1: no doubt to the mad desire of the Romans for
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Speaker 1: luxury and treasure. But although pearls seem to have played
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Speaker 1: a less conspicuous part. In ancient Greece and Egypt, they
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Speaker 1: were known to yet older peoples, and especially to those
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Speaker 1: of the East. The Old Testament only refers to pearls once,
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Speaker 1: in the Book of Job chapter twenty eight, where it
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Speaker 1: is written, no mention shall be made of coral or
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Speaker 1: of pearls, for the price of wisdom is above rubies.
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Speaker 1: None of the terms, however, refer with any certainty to
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Speaker 1: the objects now known by such names. The names of
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Speaker 1: gems in the Scripture have probably arisen during the many
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Speaker 1: translations and rewritings of the books. In the New Testament,
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Speaker 1: on the other hand, constant reference is made to pearls.
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Speaker 1: There are, however, traditions which refer to the ancient Hebrews
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Speaker 1: having knowledge of the true value of the gem. In
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Speaker 1: the Indian seas, pearls were known many centuries before Christ,
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Speaker 1: perhaps first collected as mere curiosities or as objects of
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Speaker 1: some superstitious regard, they gradually became articles of greater and
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Speaker 1: greater value and the proud possessions of the princes of
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Speaker 1: the East. References occur in the literature of India which
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Speaker 1: are of considerable antiquity. Pearls are mentioned in the books
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Speaker 1: of the Brahmins about five hundred BC, and are associated
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Speaker 1: in Hindu literature with Krishna. The Chinese records go still
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Speaker 1: further back, and Kunz and Stephenson relate that a book
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Speaker 1: The Shu King twenty three fifty to six twenty five
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Speaker 1: BC states that in the twenty third century BC, U
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Speaker 1: received a tribute oyster pearls from the River Hui. The
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Speaker 1: early Chinese pearls were evidently taken from fresh water Mola.
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Speaker 1: The pearl fisheries of Ceylon, and also of India and
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Speaker 1: of the Persian Gulf must be of very great antiquity.
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Speaker 1: But when and by whom discovered are questions, the answers
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Speaker 1: to which are buried in the annals of the past.
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Speaker 1: It is highly probable that the fishing was carried on
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Speaker 1: two thousand years ago in much the same simple way
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Speaker 1: as it is at present. The fishing of Ceylon was
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Speaker 1: referred to by Pliny, who stated that the island of
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Speaker 1: Ceylon was the most productive of pearls of all parts
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Speaker 1: of the world. According to Herdmann, the Singalese records go
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Speaker 1: back still further, quoting from his valuable report a mine
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Speaker 1: of information about the fishing of Ceylon. We read that,
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Speaker 1: according to the Mahawanso, pearl's figure in the list of
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Speaker 1: native products sent as a present from King Viagya of
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Speaker 1: Ceylon to his Indian father in law in about five
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Speaker 1: forty five fifty BC, and again when in BC three
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Speaker 1: six King devanam Piabisa sent an embassy to India. The
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Speaker 1: presents are said to have included eight kinds of Ceylon pearls.
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Speaker 1: Pearls were almost certainly known to the Persians seven centuries
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Speaker 1: before Christ. They are not mentioned, but pearl ornaments of
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Speaker 1: very great antiquity have been found in Persian remains. The
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Speaker 1: ancient Egyptians use mother of pearl, according to Kunz and Stevenson,
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Speaker 1: as early as the sixth dynasty thirty two hundred b C.
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Speaker 1: But they do not seem to have regarded the pearl
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Speaker 1: as being valuable until very much later times. As for
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Speaker 1: the Greeks, they too knew the pearl and recognized its value.
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Speaker 1: The gems are mentioned in the writings of Theophastras and
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Speaker 1: there described as being the products of shellfish. Pliny also
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Speaker 1: refers to the writings of the Greeks three centuries before Christ.
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Speaker 1: A great change in the story seems to have taken place.
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Speaker 1: The Roman Empire was beginning to rise, and very soon
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Speaker 1: this mighty power became involved in wars with those countries
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Speaker 1: where the knowledge of the pearl was general and its
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Speaker 1: value as treasure was recognized. By fifty b c. The
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Speaker 1: pearl had become very popular in Rome. The Romans were
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Speaker 1: indeed strangely affected by pearls, and the gem was adopted
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Speaker 1: as a kind of fetish, a sign of pomp and luxury.
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Speaker 1: The value of the pearl became extraordinarily great, and laws
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Speaker 1: were made forbidding the wearing of pearls by individuals who
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Speaker 1: had not attained to a certain rank. Dresses were simply
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Speaker 1: covered with the gem, and even animals wore necklaces. It
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Speaker 1: is often said that the presence of pearls in the
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Speaker 1: molochs of the rivers of the British Islands played some
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Speaker 1: part in bringing Julius Caesar to our shores. It is
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Speaker 1: certain that in those days the pearl was fished in England,
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Speaker 1: and in this respect the following quotations are interesting. From
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Speaker 1: Caius Plinius Secundus. In Britain, it is certain that small
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Speaker 1: and badly colored pearls are found, since the Emperor Julius
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Speaker 1: wished it to be understood that the breastplate which he
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Speaker 1: dedicated to Venus Genetrix in her temple, was made of
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Speaker 1: British pearls l I B nine five five seven from
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Speaker 1: Caius Julius Solinus dot at India Margaritas dot at Litis
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Speaker 1: Britannicum sikt Divas Julius Thracum quem Venerai Genotrichi in templum
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Speaker 1: Jus de cavet Ex Britannicus Margarita's factum subjecta inscriptione testatus st. C.
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Speaker 1: L three from Tactus Britain bear's gold, silver and other
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Speaker 1: metals as the reward of victory. The ocean also produces pearls,
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Speaker 1: but dull colored and dirty brown c. C. Tasiti di
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Speaker 1: vita agricole c five from Alien. The best pearl is
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Speaker 1: the Indian and that of the Red Sea. It is
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Speaker 1: produced also in the Western Ocean, where lies the Britannic Island,
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Speaker 1: but appears in a measure rather golden colored, having raised
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Speaker 1: somewhat dull and dusky. Juba says it is found all
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Speaker 1: also in the Gulf near the Bosphorus, but that it
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Speaker 1: is inferior to the Britannic Eliani de Natura Anamolium lib.
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Speaker 1: Fifteen c. Eight from Oregon, but they hold second rank,
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Speaker 1: as among pearls do those which are taken from the
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Speaker 1: ocean near Britain. They say that the pearl obtained near
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Speaker 1: Britain is golden colored on its surface, but cloudy and
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Speaker 1: rather dull in its rays. But that which is gotten
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Speaker 1: from the bay near the Bosiforus is more cloudy than
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Speaker 1: the Britannic Oregan comment in Mathium Delarue t. Two for
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Speaker 1: forty eight two fifty. Most of the above riders seem
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Speaker 1: to have regarded the British pearl as inferior to the
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Speaker 1: pearls of the Orient. The Venerable Bead speaks more highly
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Speaker 1: of the English pearls, and writes, among which are mussels
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Speaker 1: in which they often find enclosed pearls of all the
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Speaker 1: best colors, that is both red and purple, hyacinth and green,
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Speaker 1: but principally white. So did Britain in these times play
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Speaker 1: its part in the production of gems, which the makers
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Speaker 1: of history regarded as of first importance. The Romans used
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Speaker 1: the name Margherite of the Greeks for pearls, but the
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Speaker 1: term unio was also common in Rome. Plinate explains the
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Speaker 1: term unio as meaning that each pearl was unique, but
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Speaker 1: other theories have been put forward to explain this name.
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Speaker 1: After the fall of Rome and scattering of the treasures,
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Speaker 1: we find that pearls once more become objects of great
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Speaker 1: value with the rise of another conquering race Byzantium or
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Speaker 1: Constantinople became the center and capital of this new empire
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Speaker 1: of the East, and with the development of life and luxury,
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Speaker 1: arose the desire for adornment, which was even more gorgeous
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Speaker 1: than that of the Romans. The treasures of Rome, however,
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Speaker 1: had been scattered far and wide, and the pearl traveled
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Speaker 1: far over Europe, even to the ancient cities of Gaul.
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Speaker 1: Then we find that as the Franks too became a
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Speaker 1: prosperous and conquering race under Charlot, the pearl again came
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Speaker 1: into great favor with the rich and powerful. Later, when
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Speaker 1: learning became the chief object in life and books, the
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Speaker 1: greatest treasure, the pearl was chosen to make beautiful the
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Speaker 1: bindings of these books, many of them were most splendid
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Speaker 1: and costly. One, the Ashburnham manuscript of the Four Gospels,
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Speaker 1: which long ago belonged to the Abbey of Canonesses on
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Speaker 1: Lake Constance, is now in the possession of mister Pierpoint Morgan.
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Speaker 1: This manuscript was bound about eight ninety six to eight
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Speaker 1: ninety nine a d by order of the Emperor Arnuff
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Speaker 1: of the Carolonian dynasty, and according to Cunnz and Stevenson,
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Speaker 1: has ninety eight pearls on it, all of which came
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Speaker 1: probably from rivers in Europe. After the eighth century, as
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Speaker 1: the idea began to grow that man was the center
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Speaker 1: of the universe, that the world was made for man,
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Speaker 1: a new use was found for pearls. It was thought
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Speaker 1: that all things which grew naturally were of direct use
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Speaker 1: in helping to keep the body sound and healthy. Hence
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Speaker 1: we find that many of our herbs and lowly plants
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Speaker 1: came to be used as medicine, and they were used
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Speaker 1: for whatever their shape or color suggested. So we get
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Speaker 1: the origin of the kidney being and the liver wort.
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Speaker 1: The pearls seemed so beautiful and pure that the idea
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Speaker 1: arose that it too must be of some value in
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Speaker 1: this respect. So we find that the small seed pearls
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Speaker 1: were used as medicine, sometimes ground into powder, sometimes swallowed whole.
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Speaker 1: It was not until about the twelfth century that pearls
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Speaker 1: were used in England, for the Anglo Saxons were not
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Speaker 1: artistic in the lavish manner of more southern races. All
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Speaker 1: through the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, pearls were extremely fashionable
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Speaker 1: over the whole of Europe as ornaments for both men
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Speaker 1: and women. They were conspicuous too in church decoration, so
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Speaker 1: that from the spoil which Henry the Eighth obtained when
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Speaker 1: many of the churches were plundered, he came into possession
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Speaker 1: of numerous and costly pearls. During the fifteenth and sixteenth century,
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Speaker 1: pearls came into still greater favor than before. Many of
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Speaker 1: the German cities revived the old restrictions of the Romans,
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Speaker 1: and no maiden or married woman was allowed to wear
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Speaker 1: the gem. Later they were restricted to one pearl chaplet.
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Speaker 1: There were many laws and regulations as to their use
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Speaker 1: by knights, the most stringent being in Venice. It was
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Speaker 1: not only by the inhabitants of the Old World that
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Speaker 1: pearls were discovered. For Columbus found that pearl fishing was
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Speaker 1: carried on in the Gulf of Mexico, and quantities of
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Speaker 1: pearls have been found in the Indian mounds, either loose
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Speaker 1: or strong, for necklaces and wristlets. Some were mounted in
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Speaker 1: quaint and primitive fashion, all showing that in the days
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Speaker 1: of swarming game and roving tribes of untrammeled savages, their
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Speaker 1: queens wore pearls, even as they are now worn by
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Speaker 1: their fair successors. The old Spanish traders obtained pearls by
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Speaker 1: fair means and foul from the ancient treasures of the
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Speaker 1: Aztec kings. America was even known in Cadiz as the
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Speaker 1: land of pearls, and the gem is still fished in
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Speaker 1: the Caribbean Sea, along the west coast of Central America,
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Speaker 1: and on the Pearl Islands in the Bay of Panama.
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Speaker 1: It is prizing how little was known in the very
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Speaker 1: ancient days about the pearl producing shellfish, when the pearl
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Speaker 1: itself was known so well. The gems were thought by
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Speaker 1: the Incas to be the eggs of the animal. In
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Speaker 1: the time of Alexander, a writer of Mytilene in the
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Speaker 1: Isle of Lesbos says, in the Indian Sea, off the
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Speaker 1: coast of Armenia, Persia, Susiana and Babylonia. A fish like
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Speaker 1: an oysters caught from the flesh of which men pick
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Speaker 1: out white bones, called by them pearls. In Britain. The
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Speaker 1: most important pearl fishing was carried on in Scotland as
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Speaker 1: early as thirteen fifty five. A d. Scotch pearls are
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Speaker 1: referred to in a statute of the Goldsmiths of Paris
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Speaker 1: in the rate of Charles the second. The pearl trade
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Speaker 1: was sufficiently important to attract the attention of Parliament, and
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Speaker 1: for many years a large number of pearls were cultivated.
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Speaker 1: In seventeen o five we find a pearl merchant named
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Speaker 1: John Sproul saying that he had been dealing in pearls
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Speaker 1: for forty years, but could never sell Scotch pearls. In Scotland.
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Speaker 1: He could only sell or gentel specimens. The latter were
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Speaker 1: always preferred, although he could show much harder and better
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Speaker 1: Scotch specimens. This appears in an account current betwixt Scotland
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Speaker 1: and England, Edinburgh, seventeen o five. In eighteen sixty the
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Speaker 1: Scottish pearl fishery was revived by a German named Morts Unger,
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Speaker 1: he visited Scotland and bought pearls from the peasants. This
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Speaker 1: resulted in a vigorous search for the gems, and in
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Speaker 1: eighteen sixty five we find that the total value of
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Speaker 1: the pearls sold was about twelve hundred pounds. This price, however,
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Speaker 1: was not maintained as the rivers were overfished. Now pearls
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Speaker 1: are only found irregularly on the Spray Tay and South
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Speaker 1: Esk and to a less extent on the Doone d
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Speaker 1: Dawn and fourth pearls have also been found in Wales,
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Speaker 1: chiefly in mollochs taken from the River Conway. One of
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Speaker 1: these Conway pearls was given to the Queen of Charles,
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Speaker 1: the second by her chamberlain, Sir Richard Wynne. The specimen
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Speaker 1: is now believed to occupy a place in the British regalia.
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Speaker 1: During the whole of the eighteenth century, pearls were somewhat scarce,
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Speaker 1: both the Ceylon and Red Sea fisheries being unproductive. The
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Speaker 1: most plentiful supplies came from the Persian Gulf and from
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Speaker 1: fresh water shellfish. At this point, however, diamonds became fashionable
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Speaker 1: owing to the discovery of new methods of cutting and
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Speaker 1: preparing them. In spite of this rival, the pearl still
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Speaker 1: continued in favor, and by the end of the nineteenth
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Speaker 1: century it was more sought after and more valuable than ever.
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Speaker 1: During this century there were discoveries of pearl banks off
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Speaker 1: newly settled countries, as for example, Australia, and in this
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Speaker 1: country they became one of the sources of wealth to
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Speaker 1: the colonists. The growing value of the pearl is not
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Speaker 1: due therefore, to any decrease in the source of supply,
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Speaker 1: but to an ever increasing demand for a gem which
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Speaker 1: never seems out of place for personal adornment were in
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Speaker 1: any scheme of decoration. End of Chapter one two of
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Speaker 1: Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox recording is in
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Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Marianne Chapter two where pearls
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Speaker 1: are found. Pearls are found in the soft parts of
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Speaker 1: aquatic animals, known scientifically as mollucs and popularly as shellfish.
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Speaker 1: Inasmuch however, as our first English Board of Agriculture and
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Speaker 1: Fisheries lists together such greatures as shrimps, pariwinkles, crabs, lobsters
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Speaker 1: and oysters as shellfish, it will be advisable for our
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Speaker 1: purposes to use the much more correct term the mollusca.
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Speaker 1: The molluks are known to everyone by their shells, but
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Speaker 1: to very few by the much more important part the
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Speaker 1: animal that made the shell. The shell is merely an
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Speaker 1: external covering, a secretion of the outer layer of the
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Speaker 1: animal's body, of the animal's skin. To speak properly, now,
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Speaker 1: if we were to try and enumerate the mollucs in
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Speaker 1: which pearls occur, we should probably have to give the
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Speaker 1: names of almost all by valley. There's no reason why
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Speaker 1: the sequence of events which produce pearls in one species
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Speaker 1: should not occur, if not regularly, at odd intervals, in
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Speaker 1: other species. Not all pearls, however, are valuable. Most of
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Speaker 1: these structures are dull and worthless. We shall therefore turn
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Speaker 1: our attention to those moloks in which are found pearls
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Speaker 1: having some resemblance to the gems of that name, or
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Speaker 1: which have played some important part in the scientific investigation
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Speaker 1: of pearl formation. First and foremost mention must be made
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Speaker 1: of the selam pearl oyster. The name oyster, however, is
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Speaker 1: here altogether a misnomer. The pearl oyster is more closely
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Speaker 1: related to our common edible muscle than to our edible oyster.
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Speaker 1: The celam pearl oyster megaritifera vulgaris is not very large,
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Speaker 1: the adult of about three and a half years of age,
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Speaker 1: measuring on an average about six by six point five centimeters.
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Speaker 1: Margherita ferra vulgaris occurs in addition to the Celonese Waters,
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Speaker 1: in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea near the Maldae
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Speaker 1: of Islands, where however it does not appear to be
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Speaker 1: fished for pearls. East Africa and the Meleae Peninsula. It
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Speaker 1: is interesting to note that since the opening of the
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Speaker 1: Suez Canal, this pearl oyster has migrated into the Mediterranean
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Speaker 1: from the Red Sea. The pearls found in this species
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Speaker 1: vary somewhat in beauty according to the district in which
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Speaker 1: the mollusk occurs. Next to the Ceylon pearl oyster. Mention
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Speaker 1: must be made of other species of the same marine
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Speaker 1: genus Margherita fera, which are fished for pearls or for
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Speaker 1: their shells, if these are valuable enough for the mother
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Speaker 1: of pearl industry. The most valuable and at the same
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Speaker 1: time the largest mother of pearl oyster is Margherita fera
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Speaker 1: maxima Jameson, which occurs on the north coast of Australia.
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Speaker 1: Its distribution extends also down the west and east coast
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Speaker 1: for some distance. These shells are the Port Darwin shells,
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Speaker 1: the Queensland shells and West Australia shells of commerce. This
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Speaker 1: species is also found off the coast of New Guinea,
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Speaker 1: where it is called the New Guinea shell, in the
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Speaker 1: Malay Archipelago and at the Philippines, these Philippine shells being
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Speaker 1: known as Manila shells. Another very important species is Margherita
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Speaker 1: ferra Margharita fera, which occurs with several varieties in the trade.
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Speaker 1: One variety is found off the north coast of Australia,
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Speaker 1: with extensions down the east and west coast of that continent.
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Speaker 1: This is the variety known as the Australian black lip.
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Speaker 1: It also occurs in the Malay Archipelago, with extensions to
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Speaker 1: Ceylon and the Maldives. Another variety is fished at Zanzibar
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Speaker 1: and Madagascar and is known for trade purposes as the
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Speaker 1: Zanzibar shell. The variety persica fished in the Persian Gulf
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Speaker 1: and shipped from Bombay is the Bombay shell of commerce.
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Speaker 1: The variety erythrate Ensis Jameson is the Egyptian shell of
20:54
Speaker 1: the trade and is fished at Aden and other places.
20:57
Speaker 1: From Panama comes the Panama shell, which is the variety barbata.
21:02
Speaker 1: Other varieties include the Polynesian shells, Gambier shells, Tahiti blacklip
21:07
Speaker 1: and the New Guinea black lip. Of the many other
21:10
Speaker 1: species of Margherita ferra it will perhaps suffice to mention
21:14
Speaker 1: the Shark's Bay shell, which is fished at Shark's Bay,
21:17
Speaker 1: Western Australia and plays an important part in the button industry.
21:21
Speaker 1: Fresh Water mollucs in which pearls are found include many
21:25
Speaker 1: famous species belonging to the family Unio nidei in the
21:29
Speaker 1: rivers of the British Islands. Margaritana Margherita ferra line occurs
21:35
Speaker 1: in the rivers of Scotland, Northern England, Whales and the
21:38
Speaker 1: mountainous parts of Ireland. It is from this shell that
21:41
Speaker 1: the valuable freshwater pearls have been obtained. The shell is
21:45
Speaker 1: thick and is oblong in shape, with both ends obtusely rounded.
21:49
Speaker 1: The surface is rough and dark brown in appearance. It
21:52
Speaker 1: is between five and six inches long. The Romans came
21:55
Speaker 1: to Britain for the Unio pearls, and there is some
21:59
Speaker 1: evidence to show that they fished the Welsh rivers for them.
22:02
Speaker 1: Many valuable pearls have also been taken from Unio in Scotland,
22:06
Speaker 1: and an important Scotch pearl fishery was once in existence
22:09
Speaker 1: on the Tay in Pershure. The Irish pearl muscles seem
22:13
Speaker 1: to have decreased in number, perhaps owing to the wanton
22:16
Speaker 1: destruction which has occurred owing to the search for pearls.
22:19
Speaker 1: Pearl mussels occur in the rivers of Central Europe and America,
22:23
Speaker 1: both Canada and the United States. Pearls occur in anodonta,
22:28
Speaker 1: a large bivalve common in many of our English ponds
22:31
Speaker 1: and lakes. The pearls from this mollusk provided material for
22:35
Speaker 1: the work of Home and Philippi eighteen twenty six and
22:38
Speaker 1: eighteen fifty two on the origin of pearls in Chinese
22:43
Speaker 1: rivers and lakes. In Allied genus Dipsas is of great
22:46
Speaker 1: importance commercially and has been cultivated in enclosed waters. It
22:50
Speaker 1: is in this shell fish that the Chinese insert little
22:53
Speaker 1: images of Buddha or some other deity, which are eventually
22:56
Speaker 1: coated over with mother of pearl. A considerable fiery for
23:00
Speaker 1: freshwater pearls is carried on in the rivers of the
23:03
Speaker 1: United States of America. In fact, this fishery is much
23:06
Speaker 1: more important than that of Europe. It dates back some
23:09
Speaker 1: considerable time before the white people took possession of the
23:11
Speaker 1: countries of the West. One of the most recent and
23:14
Speaker 1: greatest fisheries was that of the state of Arkansas in
23:17
Speaker 1: eighteen ninety seven. The genera of shellfish, which are again
23:21
Speaker 1: members of the family Unionidi, include Quadrula, plur Robina lampsilis,
23:28
Speaker 1: and Tritigonia. Pearls occur very frequently in the common edible
23:32
Speaker 1: muscle mitylus edulus of our sea coasts, especially in those
23:38
Speaker 1: from certain areas. Numbers up to twenty six often occur
23:42
Speaker 1: in a single muscle, and Johnstone and Scott, on one
23:45
Speaker 1: occasion at Peel obtained three hundred and ninety pearls from
23:48
Speaker 1: sixty one muscles examined. Lest anyone should imagine that a
23:52
Speaker 1: gold mine exists in the shape of pearls in our
23:54
Speaker 1: mussel beds, we must add that the greatest value of
23:57
Speaker 1: these pearls is as material for scientific investigation. The gems
24:01
Speaker 1: are usually dark and dirty in color and possess little,
24:03
Speaker 1: if any luster. The common edible oyster has also been
24:07
Speaker 1: found to contain pearls, and stories are current of fortunate
24:10
Speaker 1: individuals who have found them when on the point of
24:12
Speaker 1: devouring this esteemed shellfish. It is probable that the part
24:16
Speaker 1: of the story dealing with the value of the pearls
24:18
Speaker 1: contains gross exaggerations. Another interesting mollusc in which pearls have
24:24
Speaker 1: been found, and which was at one time much more
24:27
Speaker 1: valuable than at present, is haliotis the ear shell. It
24:32
Speaker 1: is probably familiar in appearance, if not by name, to
24:34
Speaker 1: all readers of this book. The shell occurs in large
24:37
Speaker 1: numbers in the English Channel on the rocky shores of
24:40
Speaker 1: the Channel Islands. The exterior is a very dull, dirty brown,
24:44
Speaker 1: rough and coarse in texture. A series of holes perforate
24:47
Speaker 1: the shell. Near one side. The internal surface is lined
24:51
Speaker 1: with the most beautiful colored nacre. In fact, the play
24:54
Speaker 1: of colors is probably equaled in no other shell. This
24:58
Speaker 1: mollusc is called the ormer in the Channel Islands and
25:01
Speaker 1: the abalone in America. It will be seen that the
25:04
Speaker 1: genus has a wide distribution, and as a matter of fact,
25:07
Speaker 1: it has been fished on the coasts of China, Japan, California,
25:11
Speaker 1: South Africa, and New Zealand. The shell fish is not
25:14
Speaker 1: a bi valve. There is only one valve, and it
25:17
Speaker 1: covers the animal, which adheres to the rocks by means
25:20
Speaker 1: of a muscular foot, just as its relation, the common
25:23
Speaker 1: limpet does. The shell has been used largely in decorations
25:27
Speaker 1: as electric light shades, et cetera, but does not seem
25:30
Speaker 1: much sought after at present. The inhabitants of the Channel
25:33
Speaker 1: Islands sometimes used to decorate the exterior of their houses. Finally,
25:37
Speaker 1: as a representative of quite another group of molloks that
25:40
Speaker 1: to which the cuttle fishes belong, we must add that
25:43
Speaker 1: pearls are found in the pearl nautilus of the tropics.
25:47
Speaker 1: This list is by no means an exhaustive one, but
25:50
Speaker 1: it will serve to indicate some of the shellfish in
25:52
Speaker 1: which pearls occur and the countries in which they are
25:55
Speaker 1: to be found. End of chapter two, Chapter three of
26:05
Speaker 1: Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox recording is in
26:08
Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Marian Chapter three, the anatomy
26:13
Speaker 1: of the pearl oyster Margherita Ferra vogaris schum and the
26:17
Speaker 1: structure of its shell. A simple account of the anatomy
26:22
Speaker 1: and biology of the Ceylon pearl oyster is interesting and
26:25
Speaker 1: necessary to anyone who would follow further the romance of
26:28
Speaker 1: pearl formation. The oyster Ceylon belongs to a group of
26:32
Speaker 1: molucs known popularly as bivalves, but more scientifically as Lamella bronchiata.
26:38
Speaker 1: This name refers to the characteristic plate like gills. The
26:42
Speaker 1: group includes the well known edible oyster, the edible mussel, cockle,
26:47
Speaker 1: and almost all other shellfish which produce pearls. The Ceylon
26:51
Speaker 1: pearl oyster is a near ally of the scallop, a
26:55
Speaker 1: lamella branch caught in large quantities at many places round
26:58
Speaker 1: the British Islands, and a enjoyed as a luxury by
27:01
Speaker 1: the few who have recognized its delicate flavor. The degree
27:05
Speaker 1: of relationship between the scallops and the Ceylon pearl oyster is,
27:08
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, much closer than that between
27:11
Speaker 1: the latter and are edible oyster. The soft body of
27:14
Speaker 1: the animal is enclosed between two valves of shell, which
27:17
Speaker 1: are hinged together along a line, which is dorsal in
27:21
Speaker 1: relation to the body. The opposite edges of the valves
27:24
Speaker 1: at the shell opening are therefore ventral, and each valve
27:28
Speaker 1: is situated laterally on the creature's body. That is, there
27:31
Speaker 1: is a right and a left valve. Each valve is
27:34
Speaker 1: rounded in outline, but the dorsal edge or hinge is
27:38
Speaker 1: flattened and ends in wings or auricles in front and behind.
27:44
Speaker 1: The shell of a four year old oyster measures about
27:46
Speaker 1: nine point zero centimeters from the hinge line to the
27:49
Speaker 1: opposite ventral edge, and about eight point five centimeters across
27:52
Speaker 1: the valves. The shell is not thick, like that of
27:55
Speaker 1: the edible oyster or the mother of pearl oysters, but
27:58
Speaker 1: very thin, only about one point five millimeters in thickness,
28:02
Speaker 1: and it is lined by the usual necurious layer or
28:05
Speaker 1: mother of pearl, which is here exceedingly brilliant and iridescent.
28:10
Speaker 1: The mother of pearl layer does not extend to the
28:12
Speaker 1: edge of the valve, and consequently the margin is still thinner.
28:16
Speaker 1: It is only composed of two layers, which will be
28:18
Speaker 1: referred to below. The external surface of the shell is
28:22
Speaker 1: rough and dull in color and usually obscured by various
28:25
Speaker 1: other organisms growing upon it. The hinge line is a
28:28
Speaker 1: ridge which runs along the dorsal edge of each valve.
28:32
Speaker 1: Close to it and extending for about the middle third
28:35
Speaker 1: of its length, is a tough, black elastic ligament. This
28:38
Speaker 1: ligament compressed when the two valves are closed, and thus
28:42
Speaker 1: always tending to devarcate the valves and open the shell.
28:47
Speaker 1: It is a dead material and consequently unaffected by the
28:50
Speaker 1: action of the animal. Inside the two valves, however, is
28:53
Speaker 1: a powerful muscle, the adductor Fig. Four, which is attached subcentrally,
28:59
Speaker 1: and this to close the shell. The shell valves are
29:02
Speaker 1: thus pulled together by muscular action, but they open automatically
29:06
Speaker 1: when the muscle is relaxed by virtue of the elastic ligament.
29:10
Speaker 1: For this reason, the shells gape when the animal dies.
29:14
Speaker 1: The shell of most mollucs and practically all bivalves, like
29:18
Speaker 1: the pearl, oyster and the freshwater muscle, is composed of
29:21
Speaker 1: three layers, but a fourth occurs at places where the
29:23
Speaker 1: closing or abductor muscles are attached. It will be necessary
29:28
Speaker 1: to describe these layers in some detail, for the same
29:30
Speaker 1: structures are present in pearls. In fact, pearl structure is
29:34
Speaker 1: very similar to shell structure. The outermost layer of the
29:38
Speaker 1: shell is known as the periostracum see Figure two. It
29:43
Speaker 1: is a more or less horny layer which is normally
29:46
Speaker 1: secreted by the cells of the edge of the mantle only. Consequently,
29:51
Speaker 1: it does not increase in thickness after once it has
29:53
Speaker 1: been formed. In young shell fish, the periostracum is relatively
29:58
Speaker 1: much thicker than in old specimen. For the other layers
30:01
Speaker 1: increase in thickness very often too. The periostracum is really
30:06
Speaker 1: thinner in the adults because it gets rubbed off. The
30:09
Speaker 1: periostracum is sometimes continued in the form of numerous lamlaye
30:14
Speaker 1: into the next deeper layer of shell substance. This layer
30:18
Speaker 1: is known as the prismatic layer. It is of much
30:21
Speaker 1: greater thickness than the periostratum and is built up of
30:25
Speaker 1: calcareous columns or prisms arranged at right angles to the
30:28
Speaker 1: surface of the shell. The prismatic layer, just like the
30:32
Speaker 1: rest of the calcareous shell, consists of both inorganic and
30:36
Speaker 1: organic substances. The organic part forms a kind of framework
30:39
Speaker 1: upon which the calcium carbonate is deposited. The organic substance
30:43
Speaker 1: itself is known as conchyline. The prismatic layer also is
30:48
Speaker 1: secreted normally by the cells of the mantel edges, only
30:51
Speaker 1: it cannot increase in thickness after it has once been formed.
30:55
Speaker 1: The prisms of which it is built are often surrounded
30:58
Speaker 1: by very delicate sheaves of periostracle like substance, and each
31:02
Speaker 1: prism or column is transversely striped. In fact, each column
31:07
Speaker 1: looks like a little pile of microscopic coins. This prismatic
31:10
Speaker 1: layer often occurs in pearls. The third layer to be
31:14
Speaker 1: referred to is the most important of all from our
31:17
Speaker 1: point of view. It is the innermost layer, forming the
31:20
Speaker 1: internal surface of the shell, except at the small areas
31:23
Speaker 1: where the adductor muscle is attached and where there is
31:26
Speaker 1: a still more internal layer of shell substance. This is
31:30
Speaker 1: known as the neucreus layer and consists of that valuable
31:34
Speaker 1: substance mother of pearl. The neucreeus layer differs from the
31:39
Speaker 1: layers already described in being secreted normally by the entire
31:42
Speaker 1: external surface of the mantle. Consequently, it can increase in
31:46
Speaker 1: thickness throughout the life of the animal. It is built
31:49
Speaker 1: up of very delicate lamellae or tiny platelets, which are
31:53
Speaker 1: arranged overlapping one another Fig. Three, parallel to the surface
31:58
Speaker 1: of the shell. The edge of the lamellae are zigzag,
32:02
Speaker 1: and as the surface of the mother pearl layer exhibits
32:05
Speaker 1: parts of the faces and also the edges of the lamellae,
32:09
Speaker 1: a surface is formed which possesses, by virtue of interference phenomena,
32:13
Speaker 1: the so much desired irridescent luster. It is this necreus
32:18
Speaker 1: layer which gives the pearls their beauty, and it is
32:21
Speaker 1: this layer which is often deposited over sand, grains or
32:24
Speaker 1: objects placed by man between the shell and mantle. Further
32:28
Speaker 1: reference to the necreus layer will be made later. The
32:31
Speaker 1: last layer to which reference will be made here is
32:34
Speaker 1: found between the muscle and shell. It is called the
32:37
Speaker 1: hypostratum and is like the two preceding layers, formed of
32:40
Speaker 1: a calcium carbonate. It is built up of distinct columns
32:44
Speaker 1: arranged at right angles to the surface of the shell. Now,
32:48
Speaker 1: let us look briefly at the course of shell growth.
32:51
Speaker 1: The shell grows in size at the edge. Here the
32:55
Speaker 1: edge of the mantle is forming periostracum and prismatic layers,
32:58
Speaker 1: and there is practically nothing else. A little distance in
33:01
Speaker 1: from the edge of the shell, the surface of the
33:03
Speaker 1: mantle is secreting necreus or mother pearl substance, and this
33:07
Speaker 1: goes on continually. Thus the shell increases in thickness over
33:10
Speaker 1: its whole inner surface. The secretion of the shell is
33:14
Speaker 1: really very complicated, though the organs forming it may appear
33:17
Speaker 1: very simple. Shell formation is due entirely to the cells
33:21
Speaker 1: covering the mantle. These cells fabricate and pour out or
33:25
Speaker 1: secrete a mixture of organic and inorganic substances concryline and lime.
33:30
Speaker 1: Crystallization of these substances takes place altogether outside the animal,
33:34
Speaker 1: and the shell is the product. What determines the regularity
33:38
Speaker 1: of structure or the formation of beautifully marked or sculptured shells,
33:42
Speaker 1: is unknown. All the cells seem practically alike, yet there
33:46
Speaker 1: must be some determining factor hidden there. If a mollusk
33:50
Speaker 1: shell is broken, or a piece of the shell is
33:52
Speaker 1: removed some distance away from the edge, a most extraordinary
33:56
Speaker 1: thing happens, which is of the greatest importance in regard
33:59
Speaker 1: to theories of pearl. The shell is repaired, but the
34:03
Speaker 1: repair substance is not, as was once thought, only nacra.
34:07
Speaker 1: The mantle cells, which normally would be secreting nacra, now
34:11
Speaker 1: secrete at the area of breakage, first periostracum, then prismatic layer,
34:16
Speaker 1: and finally mother of pearl. Thus, although certain parts of
34:20
Speaker 1: the mantle surface secrete normally certain definite parts of the shell,
34:25
Speaker 1: the cells which secrete the nacra are capable of secreting
34:28
Speaker 1: all other layers if necessary. This extraordinary property is made
34:33
Speaker 1: use of in the formation of pearls, as will be
34:35
Speaker 1: seen later. Let us now leave the dead shelly covering
34:39
Speaker 1: and look at the animal itself which has been responsible
34:42
Speaker 1: for the secretion of the valves. The figure Fig. Four
34:46
Speaker 1: is a view of the right side of the animal.
34:48
Speaker 1: In the center there is to be seen the large
34:50
Speaker 1: adductor muscle, and this seems to take the place of
34:53
Speaker 1: a central scaffold. Dorsal to this, that is towards the
34:57
Speaker 1: hinge line, is a soft, unsegmented body in which lies
35:01
Speaker 1: the heart and the viscera. Ventral to the muscle are
35:05
Speaker 1: the flat plate like gills hanging down as curtains into
35:08
Speaker 1: the cavity that is enclosed by the two valves. On
35:12
Speaker 1: the left. The foot is to be seen with fibers
35:14
Speaker 1: of bissus. The mouth is situated above the bissus. This figure,
35:19
Speaker 1: with the rough description given above, represents what is seen
35:22
Speaker 1: when a flap of tissue very important, as we shall
35:25
Speaker 1: see from the point of view of pearls, has been removed.
35:29
Speaker 1: This flap, known as the mantle or pallium, is a
35:32
Speaker 1: lateral fold of the wall of the body of the animal.
35:35
Speaker 1: It is similar in shape to the valve of the shell.
35:38
Speaker 1: In fact, it has formed the latter. The cavity between
35:41
Speaker 1: the two mantle flaps into which one looks when a
35:44
Speaker 1: moloch's shell is opened, is of course nothing else but
35:47
Speaker 1: part of the external world, and is known as the
35:50
Speaker 1: palliol cavity. The sea water enters the space and bathes
35:54
Speaker 1: the gills which hang down into it, and also the
35:57
Speaker 1: internal faces of the mantle flaps. The mantle lobes are
36:00
Speaker 1: therefore separated anteriorily ventrally and posture oily, but continuous dorsally
36:06
Speaker 1: underneath the hinge line. The free edge of the mantle
36:09
Speaker 1: is thickened and darker in color than the rest. It
36:12
Speaker 1: also bears numerous short tentacles in the common scallop The
36:16
Speaker 1: mantle edge bears numerous complex eyes as well as the tentacles.
36:21
Speaker 1: It is usual to find the edge of the mantle
36:23
Speaker 1: thickened very considerably in the majority of bivalves, and as
36:27
Speaker 1: we have seen, the edges of great importance for it
36:29
Speaker 1: secretes two layers of the shell, the external periostratum and
36:33
Speaker 1: the prismatic layer. These two layers are renewed by the
36:36
Speaker 1: mantle edge, and growth of the shell so far as
36:39
Speaker 1: these layers are concerned, can only take place at the margin.
36:43
Speaker 1: The inner necratious layer is, on the other hand, secreted
36:47
Speaker 1: by the whole face of the mantle in contact with
36:48
Speaker 1: the shell. The mantle itself is formed of connective tissue
36:53
Speaker 1: with numerous blood spaces. It has an extensive blood supply.
36:57
Speaker 1: It is bounded by a layer of cells. The egges
37:00
Speaker 1: ectoderm and the ectoderm of cells next to the shell
37:03
Speaker 1: are secretory. As we have seen, the ectoderm facing the
37:07
Speaker 1: palleol cavity is ciliated. That is, the cells possess delicate
37:12
Speaker 1: vibratile processes or cilia. The foot is an organ capable
37:17
Speaker 1: of very considerable expansion and contraction. It arises from the
37:21
Speaker 1: visceral mass just below the mouth. The variation in size
37:25
Speaker 1: is brought about in the following manner. The foot is
37:28
Speaker 1: highly muscular, but it is also full of cavities which
37:31
Speaker 1: communicate with the blood system. If blood is forced into
37:35
Speaker 1: the spaces, the foot increases in size and becomes several
37:37
Speaker 1: times as large as in the contracted condition. Contraction takes
37:41
Speaker 1: place by muscular action. It is by alternate expansion and contraction.
37:45
Speaker 1: In this way that the common razor shell of our
37:48
Speaker 1: coasts boores its way down into the sand. On the
37:52
Speaker 1: ventral surface at the foot and at the end nearest
37:55
Speaker 1: the body is a gland situated in a pit. From
37:59
Speaker 1: this a groove to the end of the foot to
38:01
Speaker 1: another pit. The gland secretes the fibers known as bisis
38:06
Speaker 1: easily seen in the common edible muscle, and in both
38:08
Speaker 1: cases the bisis is used for attaching the animal to
38:11
Speaker 1: the rocks or to other shells. All these structures are
38:14
Speaker 1: indicated in Fig. Four. In addition, however, to the secretion
38:17
Speaker 1: of biases and its attachment by the same, the foot
38:20
Speaker 1: is actually used for locomotion. The bisis can be pulled away,
38:25
Speaker 1: and then the pearl oyster, being free, extends the foot
38:28
Speaker 1: and uses it as a crawling organ in a somewhat
38:30
Speaker 1: similar manner to the snail. Having found perhaps a more
38:34
Speaker 1: suitable position for reattachment, the top of the foot is
38:37
Speaker 1: applied to some rock, and the pit at the end
38:39
Speaker 1: of the bisle groove is thus pressed against the attachment surface.
38:43
Speaker 1: The edges of the groove are now brought together so
38:45
Speaker 1: that a narrow tube is formed, and down this tube
38:48
Speaker 1: pass a fluid secretion from the bisal gland. It soon
38:52
Speaker 1: hardens in contact with sea water, and after about five
38:55
Speaker 1: minutes the foot may be withdrawn from the attachment surface.
38:58
Speaker 1: It will then be seen that an elastic fiber extends
39:01
Speaker 1: from the mouth of the bisis gland pit to the
39:03
Speaker 1: point where the other pit was pressed against the rock.
39:06
Speaker 1: This process is repeated very many times until a large
39:09
Speaker 1: number of fibers extend in a bunch from the bisis
39:12
Speaker 1: gland opening to the attachment surface. If a pearl oyster
39:17
Speaker 1: or an edible muscle is pulled away with force from
39:19
Speaker 1: its attachment, the bisis is not usually detached from the foot.
39:23
Speaker 1: It comes away from the rock or it breaks. After
39:26
Speaker 1: some time, however, the mollusk sheds the old biasis, and
39:30
Speaker 1: if it reattaches itself. It does so by the secretion
39:32
Speaker 1: of a new one the muscles. Reference has already been
39:38
Speaker 1: made to the large central adductor muscle, which pulls the
39:41
Speaker 1: two valves together and closes the shell. In many of
39:44
Speaker 1: our bivalves there are two abductor muscles. Where only one
39:48
Speaker 1: is present. It corresponds to the posterior of the two.
39:51
Speaker 1: This adductor muscle can contract with considerable force. The force
39:55
Speaker 1: required to open an edible oyster an edible muscle or
39:59
Speaker 1: cockle is probable known to most readers. This force is
40:02
Speaker 1: being expended in overcoming the strength of the adductor muscles. Whilst, however,
40:07
Speaker 1: the bivalves can resist very considerable poles made for a
40:10
Speaker 1: short period, a very weak pull is sufficient, if sustained
40:13
Speaker 1: for some time, to break down the oyster's protection. This
40:17
Speaker 1: is the cause of much trouble for one of the
40:19
Speaker 1: enemies of the bivalve. The starfish, opens the shell merely
40:23
Speaker 1: by pulling on both valves with comparatively little force, but
40:26
Speaker 1: with an insistence that is to be admired. The process
40:29
Speaker 1: is interesting because for a long time it was supposed
40:32
Speaker 1: that the starfish poisoned the mollusk when of course, after
40:35
Speaker 1: death the shell would open automatically. This is not the case,
40:38
Speaker 1: as the starfish simply applies its arms to the two
40:42
Speaker 1: valves of the shell attaches its numerous tube feet and
40:45
Speaker 1: steadily poles. When its perseverance has been rewarded by the
40:49
Speaker 1: devarcation of the two valves, the stomach is extruded and
40:53
Speaker 1: the animal proper of the mollusk digested. In addition to
40:57
Speaker 1: the adductor muscle, there are several other law large and
41:00
Speaker 1: definite muscles which are connected with the foot. There are
41:04
Speaker 1: six of these altogether. All are attached or inserted onto
41:07
Speaker 1: the shell valves. Two of them are known as retractors.
41:11
Speaker 1: They originate in the walls of the bisis gland and
41:14
Speaker 1: pass backwards, one to each shell valve. The other four
41:18
Speaker 1: are levitors, two of which are anterior and two posterior.
41:22
Speaker 1: By the contraction of these muscles, the foot is moved
41:25
Speaker 1: from side to side or retracted. The protrusion of the
41:28
Speaker 1: foot to the outside of the shell is produced by
41:31
Speaker 1: a rush of blood into the cavities of this organ.
41:34
Speaker 1: There are numerous other smaller and diffuse muscles in the
41:37
Speaker 1: body which need not be detailed. The viscera there is
41:42
Speaker 1: no large cavity in the molucs, which, like the human
41:44
Speaker 1: body cavity or colium, apparently contains the visceram. The cavity
41:49
Speaker 1: which corresponds to this is small. It is termed the
41:53
Speaker 1: pericardium and contains the heart. As in all bivalves, there
41:57
Speaker 1: is a definite heart with blood vessels, but the velveussels
42:00
Speaker 1: often expand into mere cavities in the tissues, and it
42:03
Speaker 1: is difficult to speak of arteries and veins except when
42:06
Speaker 1: referring to definite large vessels with cellular walls. The heart
42:10
Speaker 1: in the pericardium is situated dorsal to the adductor muscle
42:14
Speaker 1: and between it and the so called liver see figure four.
42:19
Speaker 1: The mouth of the animal is situated high up near
42:21
Speaker 1: the hinge line, above the foot and consequently anterior imposition.
42:27
Speaker 1: It is partially hidden by two lips, which are produced
42:29
Speaker 1: at the sides to form flat plates known as labial pulps.
42:34
Speaker 1: Since each corner of the mouth is produced laterally to
42:36
Speaker 1: merge into the gutter between the two pulps on each side,
42:39
Speaker 1: a feature not easily shown in a diagram, the two
42:42
Speaker 1: pair of pulps act as directing walls and guide food
42:46
Speaker 1: to the mouth. The mouth leads into the alimentary canal,
42:50
Speaker 1: a more or less simple tube which, with the exception
42:53
Speaker 1: of a swollen region. The stomach is much the same
42:56
Speaker 1: in structure and appearance. Throughout its length. It coils one
43:00
Speaker 1: and finally runs over the adductor muscle to open by
43:02
Speaker 1: the anus into the cavity between the two shell valves.
43:06
Speaker 1: The stomach is embedded in and surrounded by the so
43:09
Speaker 1: called liver. It is very difficult, however, to compare any
43:13
Speaker 1: organ in invertebrates with organs in vertebrates, and this so
43:18
Speaker 1: called liver possesses many functions that are not performed by
43:21
Speaker 1: the human liver. It is better to call it a
43:23
Speaker 1: digestive gland. It secretes juices that help break up and
43:27
Speaker 1: alter the food, and it absorbs this digestive nutriment. Now,
43:31
Speaker 1: let us see how these organs do their work and
43:34
Speaker 1: by what means the pearl oyster obtains its food. Starting
43:38
Speaker 1: at the very beginning of the story, the food of
43:39
Speaker 1: the pearl oyster consists of minute animals and plants which
43:42
Speaker 1: occur everywhere floating in the sea water. These same microscopic
43:46
Speaker 1: organisms are found in the fresh water ponds, streams, rivers
43:49
Speaker 1: and lakes, and they occur in the sea, though of
43:52
Speaker 1: course different species are characteristic of all these different situations,
43:56
Speaker 1: and are in fact characteristic and different for each season
43:59
Speaker 1: of the year. These organisms must be brought within the shell,
44:03
Speaker 1: and as the bi valves are not capable of pursuing them,
44:06
Speaker 1: a current of water is caused to flow into the
44:08
Speaker 1: shell cavity, which will bring them with it. This current
44:11
Speaker 1: of water is very important for another reason. The pearl oyster,
44:15
Speaker 1: like other living organisms, must breathe. It obtains its oxygen
44:19
Speaker 1: from the water, and consequently a current of water must
44:22
Speaker 1: enter the shell, continually bringing in oxygen, and must pass
44:25
Speaker 1: out again with carbonic acid gas, the product of respiration. Thus,
44:30
Speaker 1: an inflowing current of sea water brings oxygen for respiration
44:33
Speaker 1: and food for nutrition at the same time. The water
44:36
Speaker 1: current is produced chiefly by the gills. We have already
44:40
Speaker 1: referred to these organs as being flat plates in the
44:42
Speaker 1: bivalve mollusks. They occur as two double plates on each side,
44:46
Speaker 1: hanging down like curtains from the adductor muscle and viscral mass,
44:50
Speaker 1: and occupying a considerable part of that cavity itself. A
44:54
Speaker 1: part of the external world, which is encompassed by the
44:57
Speaker 1: two valves of the shell. These are really only two gills,
45:02
Speaker 1: but as each one appears as two double plates half gills,
45:05
Speaker 1: they are often said to be four. It must be remembered, then,
45:08
Speaker 1: that each one of the four is but a half gill.
45:11
Speaker 1: Two half gills belong to each side of the body.
45:15
Speaker 1: Each gill plate is made up of a number of filaments,
45:18
Speaker 1: all hanging down side by side. They are held together
45:21
Speaker 1: by delicate hair like processes, so that they appear to
45:23
Speaker 1: make up a firm, sickle shaped plate. As a matter
45:27
Speaker 1: of fact, a slight touch with a finger serves to
45:29
Speaker 1: separate the filaments, so that a gill plate looks like
45:32
Speaker 1: a comb, the teeth of which are not brittle and strong,
45:35
Speaker 1: but soft, and only kept in position by adhering to
45:38
Speaker 1: one another. Perhaps a better comparison would be with the
45:41
Speaker 1: vein of a feather. Here also we have a number
45:43
Speaker 1: of delicate processes which are held together to form a
45:46
Speaker 1: flat plate. The gills are covered with delicate microscopic hair
45:51
Speaker 1: like processes or cilia, arranged in a regular and particular manner,
45:55
Speaker 1: and it is by the continual wafting of these cilia
45:58
Speaker 1: that the water current enters the shell. Probably all readers
46:01
Speaker 1: of this book have watched the effect of the wind
46:04
Speaker 1: blowing across a field of corn Successive waves appeared across
46:07
Speaker 1: the field, But the motion of each corn stalk is
46:10
Speaker 1: to and fro. If one could make the cornstalks move
46:13
Speaker 1: in this way of their own accord, the process would
46:16
Speaker 1: be reversed and a current of air would be produced.
46:20
Speaker 1: This is exactly what takes place on the gills. The
46:22
Speaker 1: cilia are the individual cornstalks. They move continually but rhythmically,
46:27
Speaker 1: one after the other, so that waves are set up.
46:31
Speaker 1: This sets the water in motion. The current of water
46:34
Speaker 1: enters the shell between the two mantle lobes at a
46:36
Speaker 1: region about the middle of the ventral margin. It passes
46:39
Speaker 1: over the gill plates and through them, Passing through them continually.
46:43
Speaker 1: The water is to a certain extent robbed of its
46:46
Speaker 1: oxygen and leaves the shell at what is known as
46:49
Speaker 1: the excellent opening, situated posteriorly. If, however, food particles enter
46:55
Speaker 1: with the water of the inflowing current, they are wafted
46:58
Speaker 1: along the gill margins anterior until they reach the two
47:02
Speaker 1: flaps known as the pulps. There are a pair of
47:05
Speaker 1: these on each side of the body. The outermost of
47:07
Speaker 1: each is really a prolongation of the upper lip of
47:09
Speaker 1: the mouth, and the innermost a prolongation of the lower lip. Consequently,
47:13
Speaker 1: the gutter or groove between either pair of pulps leads
47:17
Speaker 1: to the mouth. Like the gills, the pulps are covered
47:21
Speaker 1: with cilia. Hence the food particles are wafted along between
47:24
Speaker 1: them up to the mouth opening. The particles may be
47:27
Speaker 1: accepted as food and then pass into the alimentary canal,
47:31
Speaker 1: or they may be rejected. In the latter case, they
47:34
Speaker 1: are picked up by a current of water running along
47:36
Speaker 1: parallel and close to the margin of that mantle, and
47:39
Speaker 1: are carried back until the excellent opening is reached. Here
47:43
Speaker 1: they leave the shell, together with the current of water
47:45
Speaker 1: that has passed through the gills. In this manner, the
47:48
Speaker 1: pearl oysters, and indeed also the cockle mussel and other bivalves,
47:52
Speaker 1: obtain their food. They search not, neither do they place
47:55
Speaker 1: food in their mouths by special appendages. Reference has been
47:59
Speaker 1: made once or tame tw to the gills. It must
48:01
Speaker 1: be said here that they are not the only organs
48:04
Speaker 1: concerned in respiration. The mantle lobes in themselves are very
48:08
Speaker 1: efficient respiratory organs, for they contain numerous blood spaces, and
48:12
Speaker 1: the wall separating this blood from the sea water in
48:14
Speaker 1: the cavity of the shell is extremely thin and allows
48:17
Speaker 1: the interchange of the gases the blood system. All bivalves
48:22
Speaker 1: possess a heart and system of blood vessels. This perhaps
48:26
Speaker 1: is not common knowledge because the blood of these moluks
48:28
Speaker 1: is practically always colorless. The absence of the characteristic red
48:33
Speaker 1: hemoglobin of human blood does not render the blood different
48:36
Speaker 1: so far as function is concerned. There are other chemical
48:39
Speaker 1: compounds present instead, which help to carry out chemical changes
48:43
Speaker 1: similar to those performed by hemoglobin in human respiration. The
48:48
Speaker 1: heart consists of one ventricle, a central dorsally situated muscular
48:52
Speaker 1: walled bag, and two oracles, one on either side with
48:56
Speaker 1: much thinner walls. The ventricle contracts or beat eats rhythmically,
49:01
Speaker 1: and at each contraction, the contained blood is forced out
49:04
Speaker 1: through two arteries not shown in Figure four to the
49:07
Speaker 1: system on dilation. After each contraction, blood is sucked into
49:12
Speaker 1: the ventricle from the oracles. The blood can only flow
49:15
Speaker 1: in one direction. It is prevented from re entering the oracles.
49:18
Speaker 1: When the ventricle contracts by valves which guard the orifices,
49:23
Speaker 1: the oracles receive their blood from the gills and mantle. Thus,
49:26
Speaker 1: the heart only contains blood of one kind pure. The
49:30
Speaker 1: blood system is much more simple than that of man,
49:33
Speaker 1: where the heart has two ventricles and pumps out both
49:35
Speaker 1: pure and impure blood. The excretory organs. The pearl oyster
49:42
Speaker 1: possesses two so called kidneys. They are simply tubes which
49:45
Speaker 1: open at one end into the pericardium and at the
49:49
Speaker 1: other into that part of the external world enclosed by
49:52
Speaker 1: the two shell valves. Excrete matter is removed from the blood,
49:56
Speaker 1: which circulates in the walls of these tubes and is
49:58
Speaker 1: passed into the loom, eventually reaching the exterior. Waste matter
50:03
Speaker 1: may also be excreted into the pericardium itself by the
50:06
Speaker 1: walls of the heart. This excreete matter also passes down
50:10
Speaker 1: the lumen of the kidneys to the exterior. There now
50:13
Speaker 1: remains to be described the nervous system and sense organs,
50:16
Speaker 1: and finally the reproductive organs to render this general account
50:20
Speaker 1: of the anatomy complete. The nervous system and sense organs,
50:25
Speaker 1: since bi valves like the pearl oyster and the muscle
50:28
Speaker 1: do not make a very active search for food, but
50:30
Speaker 1: lead a sluggish existence, partaking of such nutriment as is
50:34
Speaker 1: wafted to them. They missed that active struggle for existence
50:37
Speaker 1: which is bound up with a search for food and
50:40
Speaker 1: a combat with enemies. Not that they take no part
50:43
Speaker 1: in a struggle for existence that seems to be part
50:46
Speaker 1: of the ordained law of life for every organism. It
50:49
Speaker 1: is here, however, of a more passive nature. We are
50:52
Speaker 1: not surprised, then, to find that both nervous system and
50:55
Speaker 1: sense organs are but simple. Here, in fact, is the
50:58
Speaker 1: explanation of the absence of a definite and obvious head
51:01
Speaker 1: with eyes and other organs. To the man in the street,
51:04
Speaker 1: an animal lacks all individuality if it does not possess
51:07
Speaker 1: such a structure on which he may interpret some expression.
51:12
Speaker 1: One cannot point to the animal's head, but merely to
51:14
Speaker 1: the head region. Specialized sense organs are few, and they
51:18
Speaker 1: cannot be compared to any possessed by well known vertebrate animals.
51:22
Speaker 1: They are of used to the animal for orienting itself
51:24
Speaker 1: and for testing the water which continually streams into the shell.
51:28
Speaker 1: The edges of the mantle are sensitive to light, and
51:30
Speaker 1: a shadow thrown on them causes an immediate closure of
51:33
Speaker 1: the shell. This is the sole means of defense possessed
51:36
Speaker 1: by the pearl oyster. As a matter of fact, when
51:39
Speaker 1: eyes are present in the bi valves, they are usually
51:42
Speaker 1: situated not in the head region, but on the mantle edges,
51:45
Speaker 1: the only regions where they would be of any service. Thus,
51:48
Speaker 1: do necessity and use triumph in nature over all else.
51:53
Speaker 1: The nervous system consists simply of three pairs of small
51:56
Speaker 1: bodies of ganglia, which are aggregations of nerve cells connected
52:00
Speaker 1: by nerve fibers. One pair, the cerebral ganglia, is situated
52:05
Speaker 1: in the head region at the sides of the esophagus.
52:09
Speaker 1: Another pair, the petal ganglia, is connected to the cerebral
52:13
Speaker 1: ganglia by two connectives, but the two ganglia are fused
52:16
Speaker 1: to form one mass at the base the foot. The
52:20
Speaker 1: third pair is situated on the face of the adductor muscle.
52:23
Speaker 1: The ganglia of this pear are connected to the cerebral ganglia,
52:26
Speaker 1: but not to the petal Thus, the nervous system is
52:30
Speaker 1: bilaterally symmetrical and composed of right and left halves. In
52:34
Speaker 1: this simple invertebrate nervous system. We find nerve fibers running
52:38
Speaker 1: out from these ganglia to muscles. Other fibers, sensory in function,
52:43
Speaker 1: run in from the peripheral parts of the body and
52:45
Speaker 1: the gills. A stimulus, such as a difference in the
52:49
Speaker 1: constitution of the water, a shadow thrown on the mantel edge,
52:53
Speaker 1: or a blow struck by some external object on any
52:55
Speaker 1: soft part of the body, is followed by the transmission
52:58
Speaker 1: of nerve impulses to ganglian cells and from these to muscles.
53:03
Speaker 1: A response may or may not follow the stimulus, but
53:05
Speaker 1: we can only regard it as a reflex action the
53:10
Speaker 1: reproductive system. The last system in the body to which
53:13
Speaker 1: we shall allude is the one comprising those organs upon
53:16
Speaker 1: which the upkeep of the race depends. In the pearl oyster,
53:19
Speaker 1: the sexes are separate. That is to say, an individual
53:23
Speaker 1: is either male or female. In the scallop, both male
53:26
Speaker 1: and female organs are found in each individual. There is, however,
53:30
Speaker 1: no difference to the eye in the external appearance of
53:32
Speaker 1: male and female oysters. The sex can only be determined
53:35
Speaker 1: by examining closely the organs of reproduction inside the body.
53:39
Speaker 1: The organs them. Cells are rather diffuse and consist of
53:42
Speaker 1: hundreds of branched tubules which cover the stomach, the digestive gland,
53:47
Speaker 1: and the intestine. The tubules open into little sacs, and
53:51
Speaker 1: in these the eggs or spermatozoa are formed. According to
53:54
Speaker 1: the sex, the tubules join up to form ducts which
54:00
Speaker 1: which open into each other, until they form a large
54:02
Speaker 1: duct on each side which opens to the exterior. When
54:06
Speaker 1: the reproductive organs are mature, the eggs or spermatozoa are
54:10
Speaker 1: shed into the sea. They pass out of the shell
54:13
Speaker 1: and float about in the water in which the animals
54:15
Speaker 1: are living. As these spermatozoa are developed in countless numbers,
54:19
Speaker 1: and as the pearl oysters are gregarious, there is every
54:23
Speaker 1: chance of a sperm meeting an egg. Fusion of the
54:26
Speaker 1: two then takes place, and fertilization is accomplished. Fertilization depends, then,
54:32
Speaker 1: not on any act of the pearl oysters themselves, except
54:35
Speaker 1: of course, the emission of the eggs or sperms into
54:38
Speaker 1: the sea water, but upon the accidental meeting in the
54:41
Speaker 1: sea of the two microscopic germs. Where this method is adopted,
54:45
Speaker 1: we always expect to find myriads of eggs developed in
54:47
Speaker 1: the individual to make sure in the terrific mortality that
54:51
Speaker 1: afterwards occurs, that some small but adequate proportion will survive.
54:55
Speaker 1: This is the case in the pearl oyster. It would
54:57
Speaker 1: be a tax on the imagination to picture what would
55:00
Speaker 1: happen if every egg produced by the pearl oysters developed
55:03
Speaker 1: into even a young oyster. This, however, applies to many
55:07
Speaker 1: thousands of other species in the animal world. The description
55:11
Speaker 1: of the pearl oyster should give an idea of the
55:13
Speaker 1: type of animal that is popularly known as a bivalve.
55:16
Speaker 1: It would not be difficult for the reader to find
55:18
Speaker 1: most of the structures described in the edible oyster, the scallop,
55:22
Speaker 1: the clam, the edible muscle, cockle, and freshwater muscle. The
55:26
Speaker 1: three last named might look rather different, but this is
55:29
Speaker 1: simply due to the fact that instead of possessing one
55:32
Speaker 1: large central muscle for closing the shell, they possess two,
55:35
Speaker 1: one at each end of the body. End of chapter three,
55:47
Speaker 1: Chapter four of Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox
55:51
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne Chapter four,
55:56
Speaker 1: the life history of the pearl oyster and the conditions
55:59
Speaker 1: under which it lives. The mature peer oysters, as we
56:03
Speaker 1: have seen, discharge into the sea their sexual products eggs
56:06
Speaker 1: or spermatozoa, according to the sex. The actual emission has
56:11
Speaker 1: been observed in may fer cylon oysters, but probably the
56:14
Speaker 1: spawning season extends over many months of the year. The
56:18
Speaker 1: eggs and spermatozoa pass out direct from the reproductive organs
56:21
Speaker 1: into the water, which is continually passing into and out
56:25
Speaker 1: of the palliol cavity. Fertilization of the eggs takes place
56:29
Speaker 1: in the sea water. There is, however, a very great probability,
56:33
Speaker 1: as the author has observed in the case of other
56:36
Speaker 1: lamelle branches, that the emission of ripe spermatozoa from the
56:40
Speaker 1: male is stimulated by the presence of female oysters. As
56:44
Speaker 1: the pearl oyster is a gregarious animal like our own
56:47
Speaker 1: edible muscle, there is every chance of the numerous eggs
56:49
Speaker 1: being fertilized, even though no act of copulation brings the
56:53
Speaker 1: sexual products together. This method of fertilization of the eggs
56:57
Speaker 1: may be taken as holding good for the other relatives
57:00
Speaker 1: of the cylon pearl oyster. The mother of pearl oysters
57:03
Speaker 1: and also for our edible muscle. It does not hold good, however,
57:07
Speaker 1: for the fresh water muscles of our streams and lakes,
57:10
Speaker 1: the life history of which will be discussed further on.
57:13
Speaker 1: The small egg, at first irregular in shape, but becoming
57:16
Speaker 1: spherical after fertilization, floats in the sea at the mercy
57:20
Speaker 1: of any current over the banks. But development continues and
57:23
Speaker 1: we soon have a little multicellular embryo which swims by
57:27
Speaker 1: means of cilia. This power of locomotion is of course,
57:31
Speaker 1: of no account in determining the wanderings of the embryo,
57:34
Speaker 1: which during its entire life is dependent upon the erratic
57:37
Speaker 1: occurrence in which it floats. The second day marks the
57:40
Speaker 1: appearance of a tiny shell, which develops until a minute
57:43
Speaker 1: transparent bivalve shell encloses the larval oyster. It is still
57:48
Speaker 1: a swimming form, living as a floating organism. This brings
57:52
Speaker 1: us to the stage immediately before the formation of spat.
57:56
Speaker 1: The term spat is given to the earliest attached stage
57:59
Speaker 1: in the life hit my of mollucs like the pearl oyster.
58:03
Speaker 1: The attached stages probably reached just within a week after
58:06
Speaker 1: fertilization has taken place. It will be seen that the
58:09
Speaker 1: chances are very great that during this time the free
58:11
Speaker 1: swimming embryo has been carried by tidal currents far away
58:14
Speaker 1: from the home of its parent oysters. It may perhaps
58:17
Speaker 1: be taken over a great oceanic abyss or a seafloor
58:20
Speaker 1: quite unsuitable for its attachment, in which case the adult
58:24
Speaker 1: stage would never be reached. It is often quite easy
58:27
Speaker 1: to provide artificial supports on which the pearl oyster and
58:30
Speaker 1: other shellfish spat can attach themselves when natural objects are wanting. Thus,
58:34
Speaker 1: for example, at places on the French coast, attachment areas
58:38
Speaker 1: are prepared for the edible oyster and mussel. Drain pipes
58:42
Speaker 1: placed in shallow water have served as very favorable objects
58:45
Speaker 1: for the young spat of the scallop. The shell valves
58:48
Speaker 1: now continue to grow, increasing in thickness but retaining for
58:51
Speaker 1: some time their transparency. The larval swimming organ becomes reduced
58:56
Speaker 1: and disappears, and the shell closing muscles and foot deval.
59:00
Speaker 1: These tiny oyster spat are only about point one millimeters
59:04
Speaker 1: in diameter. If they have only sandy wastes as sea bottom,
59:08
Speaker 1: it is certain that their life is short. Hence there
59:11
Speaker 1: is immense need for favorable grounds with either hard objects
59:15
Speaker 1: or with sea weeds, to the fronds of which the
59:17
Speaker 1: young speck can attach themselves. The young pearl oyster is
59:21
Speaker 1: an actively moving organism, even though it attaches itself by
59:24
Speaker 1: means of a bisis. In this again, it resembles many
59:27
Speaker 1: other common bivalves. The method of locomotion can be well
59:31
Speaker 1: seen if a quite small active edible muscle or a
59:33
Speaker 1: very young scallop is placed in a glass vessel of
59:36
Speaker 1: sea water. The animal attaches itself to the glass by
59:39
Speaker 1: means of strands of bisis secreted in the way already described.
59:44
Speaker 1: Holding on by these strands, the animal pulls itself nearer
59:47
Speaker 1: to the point of attachment, then stretches out its foot
59:50
Speaker 1: and proceeds to secrete other bisal threads and to attach
59:53
Speaker 1: them further away on the glass sides of the vessel.
59:56
Speaker 1: As soon as a firm hold is obtained, the old
59:58
Speaker 1: bisal threads are thrown off by the animal and remain
1:00:01
Speaker 1: adhering to the glass. This process is repeated time after time,
1:00:05
Speaker 1: and the track followed by the mollusk is indicated by
1:00:09
Speaker 1: the series of cast off bisle threads. Apparently, the young
1:00:13
Speaker 1: pearl oysters do not travel so fast as young scallops,
1:00:16
Speaker 1: which as a matter of fact are famous throughout life
1:00:19
Speaker 1: for their powers of locomotion. They are sensitive to light,
1:00:22
Speaker 1: and in aquaria move but little during the day. Probably
1:00:26
Speaker 1: this does not apply at the bottom of the sea.
1:00:28
Speaker 1: On the pearl banks. During the first two years of life,
1:00:31
Speaker 1: the pearl oyster grows rather quickly. The age and size
1:00:34
Speaker 1: at which they are fishable vary for the different species.
1:00:37
Speaker 1: The Ceylon pearl oyster has to battle with its enemies
1:00:40
Speaker 1: until it is four and a half to five years old.
1:00:43
Speaker 1: It is then roughly about three inches in height and
1:00:45
Speaker 1: two and a half inches in breadth. The life history
1:00:48
Speaker 1: of the fresh water mussel in rivers and lakes is
1:00:50
Speaker 1: very different. The muscles live in clear water and on
1:00:53
Speaker 1: stony or sandy ground, either isolated or in great numbers.
1:00:57
Speaker 1: They do not emit eggs outside their shell. For these
1:01:01
Speaker 1: and also the young larvae which might develop would be
1:01:03
Speaker 1: swept down by the current into the sea. The eggs
1:01:06
Speaker 1: are kept inside the parent and develop into peculiar larvae
1:01:09
Speaker 1: with tiny shell valves. Provided with hooks, these young mussels
1:01:13
Speaker 1: are set free and clap their shells vigorously. If by
1:01:17
Speaker 1: happy chance they strike some fish swimming in the water,
1:01:20
Speaker 1: they toach themselves and actually live partially embedded in the
1:01:23
Speaker 1: tissues of the fish for some weeks. At the end
1:01:26
Speaker 1: of that time they drop out as young mussels and
1:01:28
Speaker 1: take up their normal life on the bottom. It will
1:01:31
Speaker 1: be advisable now to look more closely at the conditions
1:01:34
Speaker 1: under which some of these pearl producing mollucs live. As
1:01:38
Speaker 1: it is beyond the scope of this little book to
1:01:40
Speaker 1: discuss the homes of all the various pearl and nacre
1:01:42
Speaker 1: producing mollucs, it will be more satisfactory to glance at
1:01:46
Speaker 1: the habitat of the Ceylon pearl oyster as an example.
1:01:50
Speaker 1: The animals are found mainly on certain banks which are
1:01:53
Speaker 1: part of a submerged plateau in the Gulf of Manaar
1:01:56
Speaker 1: off the northwest coast of Ceylon. These banks are known
1:01:59
Speaker 1: as cars, a name which implies a hard bottom of
1:02:02
Speaker 1: any kind. They are situated in depths of from five
1:02:05
Speaker 1: to about ten fathoms. The pearl oysters, like most of
1:02:09
Speaker 1: our molocks, require a particular kind of sea bottom. In
1:02:13
Speaker 1: addition to suitable conditions of depth, temperature, and water, they
1:02:16
Speaker 1: must have some objects to which they can firmly attach themselves.
1:02:20
Speaker 1: One does not find pearl oysters therefore in the fine
1:02:23
Speaker 1: oze which exists further out from the island at greater depths. Again,
1:02:27
Speaker 1: pearl oysters are not found on the hard bottoms from
1:02:30
Speaker 1: twenty fathoms down to a hundred fathoms, although in many
1:02:33
Speaker 1: of these places large incrusting organisms like corals and sponges
1:02:37
Speaker 1: are found in great abundance. The Pearl Bank plateau of
1:02:40
Speaker 1: Ceylon is broken up into a considerable number of pars
1:02:44
Speaker 1: from three to eighteen miles from land. The plateau is
1:02:47
Speaker 1: for the most part composed of sand, but here and
1:02:49
Speaker 1: there the actual bare rock appears, although in many places
1:02:53
Speaker 1: it is only covered by a few inches of shifting sand.
1:02:56
Speaker 1: This sand was examined by the author in connection with
1:02:59
Speaker 1: Professors Herdman's visit to the Pearl Banks. It consists of
1:03:03
Speaker 1: sometimes forty to fifty percent of skeletons of certain protozoa
1:03:06
Speaker 1: called for aminifera, many of them attaining the size of
1:03:10
Speaker 1: a three penny piece. The remainder is made up of
1:03:13
Speaker 1: sand grains and calcareous animal remains. The rock itself is
1:03:17
Speaker 1: only a cemented sand. For the sand grains in this
1:03:20
Speaker 1: sea water with the calcareous animal and plant remains become
1:03:24
Speaker 1: cemented together. Lumps of coral and encrusting animal skeletons play
1:03:28
Speaker 1: their part, and we have in consequence a modern rock
1:03:31
Speaker 1: formation before our eyes. Many of the rocky blocks composite
1:03:35
Speaker 1: structures of the inorganic and organic worlds are veritable marine
1:03:39
Speaker 1: biological stations in themselves, formed largely of the remains of
1:03:43
Speaker 1: corals for amnifera, sponges, calcareous algae, and sand. They are
1:03:49
Speaker 1: burrowed into and provide homes for tiny crabs and shy
1:03:52
Speaker 1: crustacea worm tubes, in which live beautiful tube worms wind
1:03:57
Speaker 1: about the surface. A patch of a colonial protozoan allied
1:04:02
Speaker 1: to these incrustaceans is often found on seaweeds round our coasts,
1:04:06
Speaker 1: and perhaps a dozen or so pearl oysters hanging on
1:04:08
Speaker 1: by the bisis may complete the catalog of some of
1:04:11
Speaker 1: the more conspicuous organisms that arch enemy of the mollusk.
1:04:16
Speaker 1: All the world over, the starfish is certain to be
1:04:18
Speaker 1: found creeping about amongst its fair and sea urchins and
1:04:22
Speaker 1: sea cucumbers, close relatives of the starfish, and not vegetables,
1:04:25
Speaker 1: as the name might imply represent the echinodermata. The well
1:04:30
Speaker 1: known seaweed covered rocky beds of our own coasts are
1:04:33
Speaker 1: very different. The seaweeds in these tropical waters are enclosed
1:04:37
Speaker 1: in lime and might well be mistaken for non living things.
1:04:40
Speaker 1: In many cases, the plants live enclosed in the bodies
1:04:43
Speaker 1: of the animals. Indeed, in these tropical regions, where the
1:04:47
Speaker 1: nitrogeneous compounds so essential to plant life seem to be deficient,
1:04:51
Speaker 1: the vegetable cells have been driven to live inside the animals.
1:04:55
Speaker 1: This phenomenon of plant animals is represented, of course in
1:04:59
Speaker 1: our tmes by the green hydra and that interesting worm
1:05:03
Speaker 1: so ably described by Professor Keebole in one of the
1:05:06
Speaker 1: volumes of this series. The basis of a par may
1:05:11
Speaker 1: be said to be those hard bodies to which young
1:05:14
Speaker 1: and old oysters can attach themselves. This is known as
1:05:17
Speaker 1: clutch and consists of dead corals, lumps of calcareous algae,
1:05:22
Speaker 1: and old shells of various species. In many places there
1:05:25
Speaker 1: are suitable banks where the area occupied by sand alone
1:05:28
Speaker 1: would be available for pearl oyster occupation if clutch were present.
1:05:33
Speaker 1: Artificial clutching, that is, the bringing of suitable materials such
1:05:37
Speaker 1: as shells coral blocks or rubble from other places and
1:05:40
Speaker 1: depositing it on the sandy bottoms might easily increase the
1:05:43
Speaker 1: extent of the oyster beds. Somewhat. Similar methods have been
1:05:46
Speaker 1: adopted on the coast of France and Holland, and various
1:05:49
Speaker 1: structures have been built up for the attachment of young
1:05:52
Speaker 1: edible oysters or mussels. If we consider all the surroundings
1:05:57
Speaker 1: solid and liquid, living, dead and inorganic, as making up
1:06:00
Speaker 1: the environment of the pearl oyster, we find that there
1:06:03
Speaker 1: are favorable and detrimental features. The favorable conditions have been
1:06:06
Speaker 1: touched upon. Let us now look at factors which lead
1:06:09
Speaker 1: to a destruction. One of the most important agents in
1:06:12
Speaker 1: causing the death of the pearl oyster is the shifting
1:06:15
Speaker 1: of sand. This is occasioned by strong currents raised by
1:06:19
Speaker 1: monsoons and storms. The oysters are buried, young oysters are destroyed,
1:06:24
Speaker 1: and in some cases the destruction is enormous. Herdman and
1:06:27
Speaker 1: Hornell observe the loss of thousands of millions of young
1:06:30
Speaker 1: oysters from this cause in a year on some of
1:06:33
Speaker 1: the pars. This depletion seems to be of regular occurrence
1:06:36
Speaker 1: every year. Next, we come to the natural enemies of
1:06:39
Speaker 1: the mollusk, and they are numerous, though probably only a
1:06:42
Speaker 1: few commit serious damage. The black listed animals are, in
1:06:46
Speaker 1: the first place, the fishes which devour oysters. They are
1:06:50
Speaker 1: chiefly skates and rays of different species, and the file fishes.
1:06:54
Speaker 1: The large rays up to a dozen or more feet across,
1:06:57
Speaker 1: have been observed feeding upon the shell fish. With their
1:07:00
Speaker 1: a broad surfaced, specially adapted crushing teeth, they can make
1:07:03
Speaker 1: short work of the delicate shells and shell fragments. The
1:07:06
Speaker 1: result of their depredations are often numerous. The file fishes
1:07:11
Speaker 1: feed upon immature oysters. The next group of enemies is
1:07:14
Speaker 1: that of the mollucs, which bore into shells. The Gastropoda univalves,
1:07:20
Speaker 1: like the common whelk of the English Coast, are provided
1:07:24
Speaker 1: with a proboscis armed with a chitineous phile. In addition, however,
1:07:29
Speaker 1: to boring holes by this means and then inserting the proboscis,
1:07:33
Speaker 1: it is quite certain that many of these univalves either
1:07:36
Speaker 1: catch an unsuspecting bivalve with its shell open, or drive
1:07:39
Speaker 1: a part of their shell between the valves of their
1:07:41
Speaker 1: prey and then attack the mussel. If this happens, the
1:07:45
Speaker 1: empty shells of the oyster alone are left, perhaps uninjured
1:07:48
Speaker 1: and with nothing to indicate the mode of death. Certain
1:07:52
Speaker 1: sponges Coleione bore into the thickness of the shell valves,
1:07:56
Speaker 1: just as they do in the scallops of our seas.
1:08:00
Speaker 1: The valves are honeycombed in all directions until they become
1:08:03
Speaker 1: completely rotten. More serious, however, than these animals are the starfish.
1:08:08
Speaker 1: Herdman records the destruction of between two hundred and three
1:08:10
Speaker 1: hundred a day when the Ess Violet in the fishery
1:08:14
Speaker 1: of nineteen o five was dredging for pearl oysters. This
1:08:18
Speaker 1: must give a huge total for the starfish living on
1:08:20
Speaker 1: the pars. Starfishes have too such powers of regeneration that,
1:08:25
Speaker 1: other conditions being favorable, they are little disturbed by being
1:08:28
Speaker 1: torn into two. They are very voracious and have reduced
1:08:32
Speaker 1: the opening of oysters to a fine art. In one case,
1:08:35
Speaker 1: Herdman and Hornell considered that the disappearance of five and
1:08:39
Speaker 1: three quarter million oysters in a year was probably due
1:08:42
Speaker 1: to this enemy. So much for the environment. It must
1:08:45
Speaker 1: not be forgotten, however, that to any one oyster, the
1:08:48
Speaker 1: other brother oysters are also parts of the environment. If Therefore,
1:08:51
Speaker 1: the young oysters are overcrowded, a large number will die
1:08:54
Speaker 1: through interference with nutrition. The competition for food is a
1:08:58
Speaker 1: greater factor in the history of this year universe than
1:09:00
Speaker 1: perhaps many of its inhabitants believe. The difficulties under which
1:09:04
Speaker 1: the pearl oyster lives have been briefly touched upon. Finally,
1:09:08
Speaker 1: Man himself, by his heedless removal of millions of breeding oysters,
1:09:12
Speaker 1: is not the least of the enemies of the pearl oyster,
1:09:14
Speaker 1: and a failure of the pearl fishery must often be
1:09:16
Speaker 1: attributed to his influence. End of chapter four, Chapter five
1:09:27
Speaker 1: of Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox recording is
1:09:31
Speaker 1: in the public domain. Read by Marianne, Chapter five, Pearls.
1:09:37
Speaker 1: There is no little difficulty in making out from the
1:09:39
Speaker 1: literature and from common knowledge, what is actually meant by
1:09:42
Speaker 1: the term pearl. Some dictionaries are most ambiguous on this point.
1:09:47
Speaker 1: For example, in the same paragraph, we are told that
1:09:49
Speaker 1: a pearl is a silvery white, smooth and iridescent gem
1:09:53
Speaker 1: extracted from the pearl oyster, something round and clear, like
1:09:56
Speaker 1: a dewdrop, anything very precious. No doubt the term pearl
1:10:01
Speaker 1: is applied to many beautiful objects in poetry and literature,
1:10:04
Speaker 1: but so far as we are concerned, the name will
1:10:06
Speaker 1: have to be used in a more restricted sense. A
1:10:09
Speaker 1: pearl consists of a number of layers of organic and
1:10:11
Speaker 1: inorganic matter arranged more or less regularly round some common
1:10:15
Speaker 1: center termed the nucleus, and resembling in composition and microscopic structure,
1:10:21
Speaker 1: certain layers of the shell of the mollusk in which
1:10:23
Speaker 1: the pearl has been formed. It may be of almost
1:10:26
Speaker 1: any color, and may lack altogether the luster and general
1:10:29
Speaker 1: appearance that is commonly associated with pearls. As a matter
1:10:33
Speaker 1: of fact, pearls are nothing more than abnormal products calcareous
1:10:37
Speaker 1: pathological bodies formed owing to some irregularity in the tissues
1:10:41
Speaker 1: of certain shellfish. Von Hessling gave the following as a
1:10:45
Speaker 1: definition of pearls. Pearls are shells converted into a spherical form.
1:10:51
Speaker 1: They possess the same histrological, physical, and chemical peculiarities in
1:10:56
Speaker 1: so far as these do not belong specifically to the
1:10:59
Speaker 1: rounded shape, and both undergo in all the different stages
1:11:02
Speaker 1: of formation the same fate as we have already for
1:11:06
Speaker 1: this special purpose described the shell of a bi valve
1:11:09
Speaker 1: in the account of the pearl oyster. It will be
1:11:12
Speaker 1: easy to apply this knowledge to the structure of pearls.
1:11:16
Speaker 1: It is necessary, however, before doing this, to draw attention
1:11:19
Speaker 1: to other calcareous bodies which are found in mollocks, which
1:11:23
Speaker 1: may possess a pearly luster and yet are not true pearls.
1:11:27
Speaker 1: These bodies are known as blisters. They are very often
1:11:30
Speaker 1: formed owing to foreign objects such as sand grains, getting
1:11:33
Speaker 1: between the shell and the mantle. They often arise in
1:11:36
Speaker 1: the process of repair of shell perforations. Blisters have a
1:11:41
Speaker 1: different mode of origin therefore, and they are usually attached
1:11:44
Speaker 1: to the shell. They may be very large and are
1:11:47
Speaker 1: often cut away from the shell and used in cheap jewelry.
1:11:51
Speaker 1: It is a blister formation that has been encouraged, as
1:11:54
Speaker 1: we shall see in a later part of this chapter,
1:11:56
Speaker 1: by artificial processes for trade purposes. True pearls themselves are
1:12:01
Speaker 1: of two kinds, a cyst pearls herdman or perinchyma pearls
1:12:07
Speaker 1: jamison b muscle pearls herdman. Of these, the former are
1:12:13
Speaker 1: the most important commercially, and have formed the subject of
1:12:16
Speaker 1: most of the scientific work on the origin of pearls.
1:12:19
Speaker 1: They are usually spherical pearls which occur singly in the
1:12:22
Speaker 1: mantle or in the soft tissues of the pearl oyster
1:12:25
Speaker 1: or mussel. They may occur even some distance away from
1:12:29
Speaker 1: the surface, embedded in the digestive gland or so called liver. Muscle.
1:12:33
Speaker 1: Pearls were distinguished first by Herdman British Association Reports, Southport
1:12:38
Speaker 1: Meeting nineteen o three. They occur usually in large numbers,
1:12:42
Speaker 1: in the muscular tissue where the muscles are attached to
1:12:45
Speaker 1: the shell. Fig. Five indicates the positions where these pearls
1:12:49
Speaker 1: are found in the pearl oyster of Ceylon. Now putting
1:12:53
Speaker 1: the definition of von Hessling in another form, it may
1:12:56
Speaker 1: be said that pearls are bodies consisting of layers of
1:12:59
Speaker 1: calcareous material with an organic basis. The layers are arranged
1:13:03
Speaker 1: in a more or less concentric manner round a central nucleus,
1:13:07
Speaker 1: and the four types of structure met within the shell
1:13:10
Speaker 1: may occur in pearls. These layers, it will be remembered,
1:13:14
Speaker 1: are the periostracum, the most external and almost entirely organic layer,
1:13:19
Speaker 1: the prismatic layer, the nescereus layer or mother of pearl substance,
1:13:24
Speaker 1: and the hypostratum, the layer found where the large closing
1:13:27
Speaker 1: muscles are attached to the shell. Some pearls consist entirely
1:13:32
Speaker 1: of concentric laminae, of a substance like the periostracum. These
1:13:37
Speaker 1: pearls are not common, but are sometimes to be found
1:13:39
Speaker 1: near the very edge of the mantle. Naturally, they are
1:13:42
Speaker 1: somewhat brown in color and lack entirely the characters which
1:13:45
Speaker 1: are associated with pearls in the popular mind. Pearls consisting
1:13:49
Speaker 1: entirely of hypostracum like substance are to be found, often
1:13:53
Speaker 1: in large numbers in the muscles. In fact, many, if
1:13:56
Speaker 1: not most, of the muscle pearls are composed of hypostraca. Now,
1:14:01
Speaker 1: where the muscle pearls are abundant, large numbers of calcareous
1:14:05
Speaker 1: concretions or calcospherrils are scattered in the tissue. Herdmann and
1:14:11
Speaker 1: Hornell suggested that the muscle pearls were formed around these
1:14:14
Speaker 1: microscopic calcospheruls. It is extremely probable, as suggested by Jameson,
1:14:20
Speaker 1: that these calcospherrols are in reality small pearls, probably of
1:14:25
Speaker 1: a hypostracum like substance. Round them may be deposited more
1:14:29
Speaker 1: layers of hypostracum or nacri. There is no evidence in
1:14:34
Speaker 1: any case to support the view of mister Southwell that
1:14:37
Speaker 1: the calcospheruls are calcareous depositions from the blood. The prose
1:14:43
Speaker 1: composed of hypostracum may possess either an empty central cavity,
1:14:47
Speaker 1: a cavity containing granules, or small central nucleus of yellow
1:14:51
Speaker 1: perastracle like substance. The calcium carbonate is laid down round
1:14:56
Speaker 1: the center in a manner striking like the hypostracal layer
1:14:59
Speaker 1: of the shell. Radiating striae pass outwards, and in addition,
1:15:04
Speaker 1: a delicate concentric lamination can be observed. Pearls of larger
1:15:09
Speaker 1: size consisting almost entirely of prismatic like shell substance are
1:15:13
Speaker 1: more common, but it must be remembered that usually the
1:15:16
Speaker 1: peristrachal substance occurs two both in the very center as
1:15:20
Speaker 1: a nucleus and also in concentric layers alternating with the
1:15:24
Speaker 1: prismatic substance fig. Six. The prismatic substance resembles closely that
1:15:29
Speaker 1: same layer in the shell in the manner in which
1:15:32
Speaker 1: it is deposited, but the columns or prisms are radically
1:15:35
Speaker 1: arranged in the pearl, so that they are at right
1:15:37
Speaker 1: angles to the concentric lemonae. Most pearls consist of a nucleus,
1:15:42
Speaker 1: to which reference will be made later, and more than one,
1:15:45
Speaker 1: perhaps all, of the different varieties of shell substance. The
1:15:49
Speaker 1: most important of these is, of course, the nacre. The
1:15:52
Speaker 1: figure below is that of a nacreous pearl composed of
1:15:55
Speaker 1: two pearls which have fused together. The nuclei consist of
1:15:58
Speaker 1: periostrachal substance and also hypostrachal substance. Round these nuclei there
1:16:04
Speaker 1: are concentric laminae of nacri with two rings of periostracum.
1:16:08
Speaker 1: These concentric layers of periostracum may spoil the appearance of
1:16:12
Speaker 1: a pearl composed otherwise almost entirely of nacri. In the
1:16:16
Speaker 1: same way, layers of prismatic substance may interfere with the
1:16:19
Speaker 1: continuous deposition of the nacri. Owing to the deposition of
1:16:23
Speaker 1: the layers in concentric form, it is possible for a
1:16:26
Speaker 1: clever jeweler to strip off the laminae, just as these
1:16:29
Speaker 1: skins can be removed from an onion, though of course
1:16:32
Speaker 1: the laminae of necra are never continuous right round the pearl.
1:16:37
Speaker 1: This process of skinning the pearl consists in removing the
1:16:40
Speaker 1: outer layers if they are bad. There is a great
1:16:42
Speaker 1: element of chance in the process because one never knows
1:16:46
Speaker 1: whether the deeper layers will be better or worse, and
1:16:48
Speaker 1: each layer removed reduces the size and value of the pearl.
1:16:53
Speaker 1: In any case, the external appearance of a pearl gives
1:16:55
Speaker 1: no clue to its internal structure, and the reason for
1:16:58
Speaker 1: this follows from the description of the structure given above.
1:17:02
Speaker 1: There is some little difference between the nuclei of pearls. Thus,
1:17:06
Speaker 1: pearls from the common edible muscle mitilus have often very
1:17:11
Speaker 1: large nuclei. The pearls from the ceylon pearl oyster, on
1:17:14
Speaker 1: the other hand, have small nuclei. The nucleus is an
1:17:17
Speaker 1: extremely important body because of the part played by it
1:17:20
Speaker 1: in the origin of pearls. It is moreover around the
1:17:23
Speaker 1: question of the nucleus that the various theories of pearl
1:17:25
Speaker 1: formation have been built up. The nucleus, in fact, is
1:17:29
Speaker 1: supposed by its presence to a stimulate the shell fish
1:17:32
Speaker 1: so that it secreted the various layers of the shell.
1:17:34
Speaker 1: Like substance around it and thus formed a pearl, or
1:17:38
Speaker 1: more correctly, to have caused the formation of a little
1:17:40
Speaker 1: sack of cells which poured out these same substances. The
1:17:44
Speaker 1: nucleus may be a foreign body, or it may actually
1:17:47
Speaker 1: be one of the substances found in the shell layers.
1:17:50
Speaker 1: We have seen, for example, that in many pearls the
1:17:53
Speaker 1: nucleus is a substance like the periostratum or the hypostratum
1:17:56
Speaker 1: of the shell. In other cases, however, the nucleus is
1:18:00
Speaker 1: a microscopic animal parasite, a young larval worm which has
1:18:03
Speaker 1: penetrated into the body of the shell fish and dyed
1:18:06
Speaker 1: because of its encasement in a tomb of pearl. Sand,
1:18:10
Speaker 1: grains and other hard fragments from the external world may
1:18:13
Speaker 1: also be found as the nuclei of pearls. The composition
1:18:17
Speaker 1: of pearls must vary according to whether they consist of
1:18:20
Speaker 1: periostracum or of the other more calcareous layers. Leaving out
1:18:25
Speaker 1: of the question the pearls of periostracum, and taking pearls
1:18:30
Speaker 1: possessing an outer covering of nacre, we have the following analysis.
1:18:34
Speaker 1: Harley calcium carbonate ninety one point seven two percent organic
1:18:39
Speaker 1: matter five point ninety four percent water, two point twenty
1:18:43
Speaker 1: three percent, loss point eleven percent. Du bois calcium carbonate
1:18:49
Speaker 1: ninety one point five nine percent, organic matter three point
1:18:53
Speaker 1: eight three percent water three point nine seven percent, residue
1:18:58
Speaker 1: zero point eight one percent. An analysis of the neckar
1:19:02
Speaker 1: from the Selam pearl oyster shells gave the following rof
1:19:07
Speaker 1: Calcium carbonate eighty eight point seven nine per cent, calcium
1:19:10
Speaker 1: sulfate four point nine three per cent, organic matter two
1:19:13
Speaker 1: point three two per cent, water two point two eight
1:19:16
Speaker 1: per cent, loss one point six eight per cent. The
1:19:20
Speaker 1: calcium carbonate occurs in the form known as aragonite. So
1:19:25
Speaker 1: far as hardness is concerned, it may be said that
1:19:27
Speaker 1: some pearls require a hammer to break them. This property
1:19:30
Speaker 1: varies greatly with the structure of the pearl. The boy
1:19:34
Speaker 1: found that pearls were scratched by a petite. In more scale.
1:19:38
Speaker 1: This occupies the position indicated in the following a petite
1:19:42
Speaker 1: five ORTHOCLASSA six, quartz seven topaz eight diamond ten, and
1:19:47
Speaker 1: the pearl is therefore easily scratched by many other stones.
1:19:51
Speaker 1: The specific gravity of oriental pearls varies, but the average
1:19:55
Speaker 1: may be taken as being from two point six five
1:19:57
Speaker 1: zero to two point six eight six. The specific gravity
1:20:01
Speaker 1: of freshwater pearls seems to be higher i e. Two
1:20:04
Speaker 1: point seven to four. Poor pearls are not nearly so heavy,
1:20:08
Speaker 1: and the specific gravity may be much less, averaging one
1:20:11
Speaker 1: point five. In fact. In addition to the smaller spherical
1:20:15
Speaker 1: true pearls, there occur irregularly rounded bodies, often of very
1:20:19
Speaker 1: considerable size, known as Baroque or Baroche pearls. These are
1:20:24
Speaker 1: sometimes mounted in jewelry so as to hide their irregularity,
1:20:27
Speaker 1: but many have been used so that their very irregularity
1:20:30
Speaker 1: added to their value. At the beginning of the eighteenth
1:20:33
Speaker 1: century there was quite a popular craze for Baroche figures. Curious,
1:20:37
Speaker 1: quaint men and animal figures were constructed with the aid
1:20:40
Speaker 1: of the pearls and precious metals. Many of these are
1:20:44
Speaker 1: to be seen in the British Museum. There are good
1:20:46
Speaker 1: collections too in the Louver and in the Dresden Museum.
1:20:51
Speaker 1: At the present time, small Baroche pearls are being mounted
1:20:53
Speaker 1: in necklaces and bracelets. The color of pearls varies very considerably,
1:20:59
Speaker 1: and all the possible sh shades between pure white and
1:21:01
Speaker 1: black are known to exist. White, or as nearly white
1:21:04
Speaker 1: as is possible, is usually regarded as the most sought
1:21:07
Speaker 1: after and perfect tint. Color alone, however, is not nearly sufficient,
1:21:12
Speaker 1: and there must be an addition, a peculiar kind of luster.
1:21:15
Speaker 1: It is this combination of tint and luster that has
1:21:18
Speaker 1: made the salam pearl of such great fame and value,
1:21:21
Speaker 1: and although equally good specimens often occur in other places,
1:21:24
Speaker 1: even in fresh water mollucks, on the average, the salam
1:21:27
Speaker 1: pearls seem to be better than those from most other localities.
1:21:31
Speaker 1: Many of the color effects are not due to the
1:21:33
Speaker 1: presence of actual pigment, but rather to reflection and refraction phenomena.
1:21:38
Speaker 1: This one may have white pearls with a blue, a green,
1:21:41
Speaker 1: or a pink sheen, although yellow is by far the
1:21:43
Speaker 1: most common. Other pearls with more definite colors and darker
1:21:47
Speaker 1: tints generally possess little or no luster, and some of
1:21:51
Speaker 1: these would hardly be considered true pearls at all by dealers.
1:21:54
Speaker 1: This often applies to the pearls found in the common
1:21:57
Speaker 1: edible muscle. In fact, supporting this remark, we find in
1:22:00
Speaker 1: the glossary of one book on pearls. A definition of
1:22:03
Speaker 1: true pearls as follows, pearls formed of nacre as distinguished
1:22:07
Speaker 1: from similar formations which are not nacreous. It is not
1:22:11
Speaker 1: at all necessary for true pearl to have any of
1:22:13
Speaker 1: the nacreous layer represented in its structure. The black pearl
1:22:18
Speaker 1: does not seem necessarily to be black. A really black
1:22:21
Speaker 1: pearl is a gem of some value, but most so
1:22:24
Speaker 1: called black pearls are merely deep shades of brown or
1:22:27
Speaker 1: dirty blue. Nearly all the varieties of color are to
1:22:30
Speaker 1: be found amongst freshwater pearls. This agrees with the statement
1:22:33
Speaker 1: made long ago by the Venerable Bead to the effect
1:22:36
Speaker 1: that the British pearls were of all the best colors,
1:22:39
Speaker 1: that is, both red and purple, hyacinth and green, but
1:22:43
Speaker 1: principally white. It is quite easy to see that a
1:22:46
Speaker 1: series of selected pearls in a necklace will be of
1:22:49
Speaker 1: greater value than individual pearls of the same size. It
1:22:53
Speaker 1: is said, in fact, that if you match a pearl
1:22:55
Speaker 1: with another, you double the value of each of them.
1:22:58
Speaker 1: The reason, of course, is the difficult the experienced in
1:23:00
Speaker 1: finding amid specimens which vary so much in tint, luster
1:23:04
Speaker 1: and shape. Too, that will stand the test of being viewed. Together.
1:23:08
Speaker 1: For definitions of some of the many names applied to pearls,
1:23:10
Speaker 1: reference should be made to the glossary at the end
1:23:12
Speaker 1: of this book. It is not surprising in the present
1:23:15
Speaker 1: day of imitation that we should find remarkably good artificial pearls.
1:23:19
Speaker 1: By artificial pearls, I mean actually manufactured articles and not
1:23:23
Speaker 1: those structures which are secreted by the moluks after stimulation
1:23:27
Speaker 1: by man, that is artificial stimulation, and the pearls produced
1:23:32
Speaker 1: are really only blisters. Very many of these imitation pearls
1:23:36
Speaker 1: come from France, where as a matter of fact, the
1:23:39
Speaker 1: industry was created. Globules of glass are used in one method.
1:23:45
Speaker 1: These are made of an opal like tint and then
1:23:47
Speaker 1: treated with a special mixture known as essence to orient.
1:23:52
Speaker 1: It consists of the iridescent guanin from the scales of
1:23:54
Speaker 1: fish white bait. The scales are removed in the fish
1:23:58
Speaker 1: and rubbed in fresh water until they lose the iridescent substance.
1:24:02
Speaker 1: This is abstracted from the water and kept in ammonia.
1:24:05
Speaker 1: A drop of the essence is introduced into the inside
1:24:08
Speaker 1: of the bead of glass, and the internal structure of
1:24:10
Speaker 1: the latter is coated uniformly with the mixture. The bead
1:24:14
Speaker 1: is then filled with wax. Other variations of this method
1:24:17
Speaker 1: are used. Imitation pearls are sometimes made by cutting out
1:24:21
Speaker 1: spherical pieces from mother of pearl shell and polishing them.
1:24:25
Speaker 1: Even artificial mother of pearl can be made now in
1:24:28
Speaker 1: pieces of considerable size. Substances allied to celluloid are prepared,
1:24:33
Speaker 1: which are treated with essenced orient Naturally, the structure of
1:24:37
Speaker 1: these imitations, whatever be their appearance, is quite different from
1:24:40
Speaker 1: real mother of pearl. The trade in these purely artificial
1:24:44
Speaker 1: products is of considerable value, and imitation pearl necklaces are
1:24:47
Speaker 1: to be seen in shops in some of the best
1:24:49
Speaker 1: London streets. We cannot close this chapter without referring in
1:24:53
Speaker 1: conclusion to the attempts that have been made to stimulate
1:24:55
Speaker 1: shellfish to produce true pearls. This is one of the
1:24:59
Speaker 1: lines along which biological science has, at various times exerted
1:25:02
Speaker 1: its influence. As a matter of fact, the artificial production
1:25:06
Speaker 1: of pearls has so far proved a greater commercial success
1:25:09
Speaker 1: than the cultivation of the pearl oysters. Great care must
1:25:12
Speaker 1: be taken, however, to distinguish between true pearls and blisters,
1:25:16
Speaker 1: and most, if not all, of the artificially stimulated pearls
1:25:19
Speaker 1: are really only blisters and so of comparatively little value.
1:25:24
Speaker 1: The natives of the Far East recognized many years ago
1:25:26
Speaker 1: that if a foreign body was insinuated between the shell
1:25:29
Speaker 1: and the mantle of a nacre producing mollusk, the irritating
1:25:33
Speaker 1: object would be covered with a layer of nacre. Sometimes
1:25:36
Speaker 1: small worms or even fish get into this strange position
1:25:40
Speaker 1: and become coated with the nacre. A beautiful specimen of
1:25:43
Speaker 1: this has been seen in the British Museum. Haig describes
1:25:47
Speaker 1: how the Chinese carried on a manufacture of pearls in
1:25:50
Speaker 1: this way. In the fresh water bi valve Dipsis placatis,
1:25:55
Speaker 1: the shell fish were collected and kept living in lakes.
1:25:57
Speaker 1: For this purpose. They were first opened, usually by children,
1:26:01
Speaker 1: and then objects of various kinds, grains of sand, pellets
1:26:04
Speaker 1: of nekra or images of Buddha were inserted between shell
1:26:07
Speaker 1: and mantle. After about ten months or longer up to
1:26:11
Speaker 1: three years, the shell fish were fished up and the
1:26:13
Speaker 1: nacric covered objects removed and sold. The nacri covered pellets
1:26:18
Speaker 1: were naturally the most like true pearls. This industry of
1:26:21
Speaker 1: the Chinese has been of considerable value and of some
1:26:23
Speaker 1: importance in the districts where it was carried on. The
1:26:26
Speaker 1: practice has moreover been rather general in the East, and
1:26:30
Speaker 1: it is applied now on a larger scale by the Javanese.
1:26:34
Speaker 1: There is no reason why the method should not be
1:26:36
Speaker 1: successful in any mollusk, the shell of which possesses a
1:26:39
Speaker 1: pearly necreous layer. The pearls produced are only blisters and
1:26:43
Speaker 1: attached to the shell. But in these days of cheap jewelry,
1:26:47
Speaker 1: a little care of mounting hides the weak spots of blemishes.
1:26:50
Speaker 1: The great Swedish naturalists Linnaeus turned his attention to the
1:26:54
Speaker 1: production of pearls by artificially stimulating shell fish, and with
1:26:58
Speaker 1: a reference to his work, we shall go include this chapter.
1:27:02
Speaker 1: In various works on pearl formation, references occur to the
1:27:05
Speaker 1: secret process of Linnaeus, but what this may have been
1:27:09
Speaker 1: was not known until quite recently. That Linnaeus did produce
1:27:12
Speaker 1: pearls seemed certain, and most writers on pearls simply made
1:27:15
Speaker 1: guesses as to the modus operandi. Herdman's curiosity was aroused
1:27:20
Speaker 1: by the numerous references and by a search through the
1:27:22
Speaker 1: manuscripts in the collection of the Linnean Society, London, he
1:27:26
Speaker 1: arrived at the truth. The letters and of the documents
1:27:29
Speaker 1: are extremely interesting, and begin with a letter to Colonel
1:27:32
Speaker 1: Baron Funk, dated February seventeen sixty one, in which Linaeus
1:27:37
Speaker 1: states that he possessed the art of impregnating muscles, and
1:27:41
Speaker 1: that he offered to make known the secret for the
1:27:43
Speaker 1: public benefit and use, on condition that the state would
1:27:46
Speaker 1: give him a suitable reward. The secret method seems to
1:27:50
Speaker 1: have been the following. First, a small hole was made
1:27:53
Speaker 1: in the mollusk shell. Second, a fine silver wire was inserted,
1:27:58
Speaker 1: bearing at its end a small, rough friendgment of limestone. Third,
1:28:02
Speaker 1: the artificial nucleus had to be kept near the ends
1:28:05
Speaker 1: of the shell, so as not to irritate too much
1:28:07
Speaker 1: the animal's body. Fourth, the nucleus was kept away from
1:28:11
Speaker 1: the shell by means of a silver wire. Otherwise the
1:28:13
Speaker 1: pearls would have been connected to the shell by neckary deposits.
1:28:18
Speaker 1: The mollusc used in the experiments of Linnaeus was the
1:28:21
Speaker 1: freshwater mussel. End of chapter five, Chapter six of Pearls
1:28:33
Speaker 1: by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox recording is in the
1:28:35
Speaker 1: public domain. Read by Marianne, Chapter six A Ceylon pearl fishery,
1:28:43
Speaker 1: an account of a Salon pearl fishery, will best serve
1:28:46
Speaker 1: as an example of the Oriental industry. The pearl fishery
1:28:49
Speaker 1: of this part of the world is probably of very
1:28:51
Speaker 1: great antiquity, and it was very likely carried on two
1:28:54
Speaker 1: thousand years ago in much the same way as at present.
1:28:58
Speaker 1: We have already seen how the single lead these records
1:29:00
Speaker 1: go back hundreds of years before the Christian era. Let
1:29:04
Speaker 1: us now look at one of the recent fisheries. The
1:29:06
Speaker 1: Ceylon fishery is and always has been an intermittent one.
1:29:10
Speaker 1: At the present date it does not exist at all.
1:29:13
Speaker 1: Records show that throughout the centuries there has been the
1:29:16
Speaker 1: same sequence of productive years and bad years. More recently,
1:29:19
Speaker 1: the hand of science has been called upon to alter
1:29:21
Speaker 1: the stern decrees of nature, but the call seems to
1:29:24
Speaker 1: have come too late to stave off the present cessation
1:29:26
Speaker 1: of the industry. In the nineteenth century there were only
1:29:29
Speaker 1: thirty six fisheries. Sometimes, after a few good years there
1:29:33
Speaker 1: would be a long spell without any fishery. How long
1:29:36
Speaker 1: the present unproductive period will last none can tell. Neither
1:29:40
Speaker 1: can one say yet what combination of circumstances will cause
1:29:43
Speaker 1: the replenishment of the submerged banks with pearl oysters, although
1:29:47
Speaker 1: we may guess at the causes of depletion. Herdman's visit
1:29:51
Speaker 1: to Ceylon in nineteen o two was after twelve years
1:29:53
Speaker 1: of unproductiveness, and it was just at a time when
1:29:56
Speaker 1: the banks were beginning to show signs of another fishery.
1:29:59
Speaker 1: The promise was fulfilled, and for some years there was
1:30:02
Speaker 1: a truly remarkable series of fisheries, fisheries of very great
1:30:05
Speaker 1: value to the controllers. In fact, as more than one
1:30:09
Speaker 1: writer has said, the pearl fishery is the greatest gambol
1:30:12
Speaker 1: of the world. From the very commencement to the end,
1:30:15
Speaker 1: the procedure is guarded and cared for by fickle fortune,
1:30:19
Speaker 1: and it requires very little knowledge of the East to
1:30:21
Speaker 1: appreciate the excited condition of the natives of Ceylon and
1:30:24
Speaker 1: even India and more remote parts during a fishery. In
1:30:28
Speaker 1: olden times, it was rumour which collected the divers. They
1:30:32
Speaker 1: heard from Afar that the harvest was ripe, and they
1:30:34
Speaker 1: came to the banks with zest to take part in
1:30:36
Speaker 1: the lottery. For some hundred years. However, the Gulf of
1:30:40
Speaker 1: Manar banks have been carefully examined every year by a
1:30:43
Speaker 1: government inspector, and the Ceylon government has decided whether they
1:30:46
Speaker 1: would be a fishery or not. The fishery takes place
1:30:50
Speaker 1: in February, March or April, while the inspection was usually
1:30:53
Speaker 1: in November. The fact that a fishery is to be
1:30:56
Speaker 1: held is now made known by the newspapers, but probably
1:30:59
Speaker 1: passes just as quickly in the more ancient way from
1:31:02
Speaker 1: mouth to mouth, until the whole of the orient is
1:31:04
Speaker 1: informed of the fact. The advertisements in the newspapers are
1:31:08
Speaker 1: printed in Singalese, Tamil and English. A notice of the
1:31:11
Speaker 1: fishery of nineteen o five is appended Ceylon Pearl Fishery
1:31:16
Speaker 1: of nineteen o five. Notice is hereby given that a
1:31:19
Speaker 1: pearl fishery will take place at marrich Chikati in the
1:31:22
Speaker 1: island of Ceylon on or about February twentieth, nineteen o five.
1:31:27
Speaker 1: The banks to be fished are the southwest cheval Par,
1:31:30
Speaker 1: which is estimated to contain three point five million oysters,
1:31:34
Speaker 1: sufficient to employ two hundred boats for two days, with
1:31:36
Speaker 1: average loads of ten thousand each day. The Mideast cheval
1:31:40
Speaker 1: Par estimated to contain thirteen point seventy five million oysters
1:31:45
Speaker 1: sufficient to employ two hundred boats seven days, with average
1:31:48
Speaker 1: loads of ten thousand each day. The North and South
1:31:52
Speaker 1: motoragam with twenty five point seven million oysters sufficient to
1:31:56
Speaker 1: employ two hundred boats for thirteen days, with average loads
1:31:59
Speaker 1: of ten thousand each day. The South cheval Par estimated
1:32:03
Speaker 1: to contain forty point twenty two million oysters, sufficient to
1:32:07
Speaker 1: employ two hundred boats for twenty days, with average loads
1:32:09
Speaker 1: of ten thousand each day, each boat being fully manned
1:32:12
Speaker 1: by divers. Two. It is notified that fishing will begin
1:32:17
Speaker 1: on the first favorable day after February nineteen. Boat owners
1:32:21
Speaker 1: and divers should be at marriage Chikati by February sixteen. Three.
1:32:26
Speaker 1: Marriage Chikati is on the mainland eight miles by sea
1:32:30
Speaker 1: south of Silivature, and supplies of good water and provisions
1:32:34
Speaker 1: can be obtained there. Four. The fishery will be conducted
1:32:38
Speaker 1: on account of government, and the oysters put up to
1:32:41
Speaker 1: sail in such lots as may be deemed expedient. Five.
1:32:45
Speaker 1: The arrangements of the fishery will be the same as
1:32:48
Speaker 1: have been usual on similar occasions. Persons attending the fishery
1:32:52
Speaker 1: camp from India will be permitted to travel to Ceylon
1:32:54
Speaker 1: by either of the following routes one to Dekoren to
1:32:59
Speaker 1: Colombo or D two palm Been to marrich Chikati and
1:33:03
Speaker 1: by no other arrangements will be made as at the
1:33:06
Speaker 1: last fishery for travelers to proceed from Palmbem direct to
1:33:09
Speaker 1: the camp. The only restriction imposed on travelers by the
1:33:13
Speaker 1: Palmbem route will be inspectioned by the medical officer at
1:33:16
Speaker 1: palm Been. Six. Drafts on the banks in Colombo or
1:33:21
Speaker 1: bills on the agents of the government in India at
1:33:23
Speaker 1: ten days site will be taken on letters of credit
1:33:26
Speaker 1: being produced to warrant the drawing of such drafts or bills. Seven.
1:33:31
Speaker 1: For the convenience of purchasers, the treasure at Colombo and
1:33:34
Speaker 1: the different government agents of provinces will be authorized to
1:33:37
Speaker 1: receive cash deposits from parties intending to become purchasers, and
1:33:41
Speaker 1: receipts of these officers will be taken in payment of
1:33:43
Speaker 1: any sum's due on account of the fishery. Eight. No
1:33:47
Speaker 1: deposit will be received for a less sum than two
1:33:49
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty rupees. Nine All communications regarding the fishery
1:33:54
Speaker 1: must be addressed to the Government Agent Northern Province, Jaffna,
1:33:58
Speaker 1: Salon up to the end of January, after which date
1:34:01
Speaker 1: they should be addressed to him at Merchikati, by His
1:34:05
Speaker 1: Excellency's command. A. M Ashmore, Colonial Secretary, Colonial Secretary's Office, Colombo,
1:34:12
Speaker 1: December sixteenth, nineteen o four. The fishery of nineteen o
1:34:17
Speaker 1: five was of very considerable value. The temporary town of
1:34:20
Speaker 1: Murchakati was larger than ever known before. The inhabitants crowded
1:34:25
Speaker 1: into it and were at least ten thousand more than
1:34:27
Speaker 1: in the previous record fishery of nineteen o four. The
1:34:30
Speaker 1: numbers of oysters fished and the money debtained for the
1:34:33
Speaker 1: Government of Ceylon were far beyond all previous records. In fact,
1:34:37
Speaker 1: eighty one million, five hundred and eighty thousand, seven hundred
1:34:40
Speaker 1: and sixteen oysters were taken and the revenue alone was
1:34:43
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty seven thousand, three hundred and eighty
1:34:45
Speaker 1: one pounds. In the three years nineteen o three, four
1:34:49
Speaker 1: and five, the revenue amounted to two hundred ninety three thousand,
1:34:53
Speaker 1: seven hundred thirty five pounds, quite enough to show the
1:34:56
Speaker 1: importance of this fishery to Ceylon. Now we may proceed
1:34:59
Speaker 1: to describe first the events of inspection which led to
1:35:02
Speaker 1: a fishery, and secondly the fishery itself. There are numerous
1:35:05
Speaker 1: preparations necessary before sailing for the Pearl banks. Boats have
1:35:09
Speaker 1: to be repaired and painted, old stores overhauled and new
1:35:12
Speaker 1: ones procured, and at the same time supervision given to
1:35:15
Speaker 1: a steamer which may serve as an oyster dredger. The
1:35:19
Speaker 1: place selected as the center of the Pearl fishery in
1:35:21
Speaker 1: nineteen o five was as stated above, March Chikati, near
1:35:25
Speaker 1: the mouth of the Modrangam River. It is necessary to
1:35:29
Speaker 1: make an inspection of the beds of oysters which it
1:35:31
Speaker 1: is proposed to fish, immediately before a fishery opens, so
1:35:35
Speaker 1: that the inspector or commander in chief of the fisheries,
1:35:37
Speaker 1: as we may term him, may be in a position
1:35:39
Speaker 1: to mark off the ground and regulate the number of
1:35:42
Speaker 1: boats and days allotted to particular areas. The essential features
1:35:46
Speaker 1: of the preparations are as follows. Three flag buoys are
1:35:49
Speaker 1: laid out by attendant launches in the direction of each
1:35:52
Speaker 1: cardinal point of the compass, at distances apart of one
1:35:55
Speaker 1: quarter mile the inmost buoys, taking their distance from the
1:35:58
Speaker 1: inspection vessel, which is anchored to serve as a pivot
1:36:01
Speaker 1: mark in the center of the circular area to be inspected.
1:36:05
Speaker 1: Then four boats, usually modified whale boats, each manned by
1:36:08
Speaker 1: a crew of six, together with three divers and two monducks,
1:36:12
Speaker 1: under the charge of an experienced coxswain, take up equidistant
1:36:15
Speaker 1: positions between the ship and the first flag boy, and
1:36:18
Speaker 1: row slowly round the ship, retaining with wonderful accuracy their
1:36:22
Speaker 1: relative positions. At regular intervals, the crews rest their oars
1:36:26
Speaker 1: to allow the divers to make descents and bring up oysters,
1:36:29
Speaker 1: if any are present. The result of each dive is
1:36:31
Speaker 1: reported to the coxswain of the boat, who records the
1:36:34
Speaker 1: condition of the bottom and oysters upon a diagram form
1:36:37
Speaker 1: with which he is provided. The oysters are retained in
1:36:40
Speaker 1: the boat for the inspector to examine. The four boats,
1:36:43
Speaker 1: having each made a complete circuit, are next ranged in
1:36:45
Speaker 1: line abreast in the same manner as before, between the
1:36:48
Speaker 1: quarter mile and the half mile buoys, and each then
1:36:51
Speaker 1: makes a second circuit. Lastly, there is a third series
1:36:54
Speaker 1: of circles, so that the four boats thus make a
1:36:57
Speaker 1: total of twelve concentric circles, each boating three. The results
1:37:01
Speaker 1: shown upon the four Coxwain's diagrams are transferred by the
1:37:04
Speaker 1: inspector to a final diagram or plan furnished with twelve
1:37:07
Speaker 1: concentric circles. When this is done, the inspector possesses a
1:37:11
Speaker 1: graphic diagram of the average distribution of old and young
1:37:14
Speaker 1: oysters and the places where no oysters occur at all.
1:37:18
Speaker 1: He calculates in square yards the area occupied by oysters,
1:37:21
Speaker 1: and then the approximate number of oysters thereon may be
1:37:24
Speaker 1: estimated by taking the average number of oysters per dive,
1:37:27
Speaker 1: ascertained by examining the diver's results in conjunction with the
1:37:30
Speaker 1: average amount of ground which a diver is credited with
1:37:33
Speaker 1: being able to clear at one descent. Usually, this area
1:37:36
Speaker 1: is considered to be about three square yards, and by
1:37:39
Speaker 1: assuming this to be a maximum area, the danger of
1:37:42
Speaker 1: over estimating the number of oysters is avoided. Inspection estimates
1:37:46
Speaker 1: are usually less than the total number of oysters obtained
1:37:48
Speaker 1: at the ensuing fishery. The actual number of oysters is, however,
1:37:52
Speaker 1: not the main object of the fishery, the important question
1:37:55
Speaker 1: being the determination of the probable value of the pearls
1:37:58
Speaker 1: which will be obtained. It is necessary therefore for an
1:38:02
Speaker 1: official valuation to be made of the gems obtained at
1:38:04
Speaker 1: the inspection for the purpose of advertising the fishery. Consequently,
1:38:09
Speaker 1: during intervals, three large samples of oysters of fishable age
1:38:12
Speaker 1: are obtained, partly by means of divers and partly by dredging.
1:38:16
Speaker 1: The weight and the number of the pearls to each
1:38:19
Speaker 1: one thousand oysters are calculated, the particular place from which
1:38:22
Speaker 1: the oysters are taken being noted. The next procedure is
1:38:26
Speaker 1: to mark out the fishing ground and to make known
1:38:28
Speaker 1: the meaning of the marks. The method is rather a
1:38:31
Speaker 1: novel one. The boundaries of the fishing ground are marked
1:38:34
Speaker 1: by buoys bearing red flags, while a series of white
1:38:37
Speaker 1: flag buoys are placed wherever fishable oysters are present. The
1:38:41
Speaker 1: divers are instructed to cluster their boats round the various
1:38:43
Speaker 1: white flags. The oyster buoys are placed according to the
1:38:47
Speaker 1: distribution of oysters mapped out after the inspection, but to
1:38:50
Speaker 1: guard against the possibility of mistake, the abundance of oysters
1:38:53
Speaker 1: may be verified by preliminary dives before anchoring the buoy's imposition.
1:38:58
Speaker 1: The flag system may be further in proved by marking
1:39:00
Speaker 1: the flags individually with distinctive numbers and signs. Advertisements are
1:39:05
Speaker 1: then published throughout the East, especially in the vernacular, in
1:39:08
Speaker 1: papers reaching the Persian Gulf and the two coasts of
1:39:11
Speaker 1: Southern India at the instance of the Colonial Secretary's Office
1:39:15
Speaker 1: at Colombo. As a result of these advertisements, divers, gem buyers, speculators,
1:39:20
Speaker 1: money lenders, petty merchants and persons of very diverse occupations
1:39:24
Speaker 1: make speedy arrangements for attending the fishery. Indian and Singalese
1:39:28
Speaker 1: coolies flocked by the thousands to the coast, longing to
1:39:31
Speaker 1: play even humble roles in the great game of chance.
1:39:35
Speaker 1: The tyndalls and divers provide boats and all essential gear
1:39:39
Speaker 1: for the work afloat, while ashore the government supplies buildings
1:39:42
Speaker 1: and various forms of labor. Stories of the mushroom growth
1:39:46
Speaker 1: of towns wherever gold is found, or diamonds discovered or
1:39:49
Speaker 1: oil struck have become quite commonplace. Tales of the uprising
1:39:53
Speaker 1: of Klondike, Coolgardi and South African cities fade beside Marachikati,
1:39:59
Speaker 1: the city with no no foundation. Among its thousands of
1:40:03
Speaker 1: inhabitants are only a few hundred women who merit the
1:40:05
Speaker 1: right of being present through serving as water carriers to
1:40:08
Speaker 1: camp and fishing fleet. This place, with its unpronounceable name,
1:40:13
Speaker 1: is the pearl metropolis of the universe. Probably there is
1:40:16
Speaker 1: not a stocked jewel case that does not contain gems
1:40:19
Speaker 1: that have filtered through this unique city by the sea.
1:40:22
Speaker 1: It is a place that comes and goes like the tides,
1:40:25
Speaker 1: ebbing and flowing. A sand drifted waste lying between the
1:40:28
Speaker 1: jungle of the hinterland and the ocean is transformed by
1:40:31
Speaker 1: the open sesame of a fishery proclamation into a seething
1:40:35
Speaker 1: mass of working humanity. In a few weeks, sheltering roofs
1:40:39
Speaker 1: are erected, and a struggle for gain is prosecuted with
1:40:42
Speaker 1: an earnestness that would have borne golden fruit. In any
1:40:45
Speaker 1: city in the Western world, public buildings, almost pretentious in
1:40:49
Speaker 1: size and design, rise from the earth. In a few days.
1:40:52
Speaker 1: A residence for the Governor of Ceylon, one for the
1:40:55
Speaker 1: government agent of the province, and another for the delegate
1:40:58
Speaker 1: of the Colonial Office. Among ext other buildings are to
1:41:01
Speaker 1: be found a court house, treasury, hospital, prison, telegraph office
1:41:05
Speaker 1: and post office. And a fair example of that blessing
1:41:08
Speaker 1: of the East, known as a rest house. Sites on
1:41:11
Speaker 1: the principal streets are leased for the period of the
1:41:13
Speaker 1: fishery and for ten or twelve weeks. Marichikati is one
1:41:17
Speaker 1: of Asia's busiest marts. One would hardly think that these Easterners,
1:41:22
Speaker 1: squatting on mats and open front stalls, could judge the
1:41:25
Speaker 1: merits of a pearl. Yet they can estimate the worth
1:41:27
Speaker 1: of a gem with a wonderful precision. Usually they have
1:41:30
Speaker 1: learned by long experience every point that a pearl can possess,
1:41:34
Speaker 1: knows whether it be precisely spherical and has a good
1:41:37
Speaker 1: skin and luster. Appealing to connoisseurs, a metal colander or
1:41:42
Speaker 1: simple scale enables them to know to the fraction of
1:41:44
Speaker 1: a grain the weight of a pearl, and experience and
1:41:47
Speaker 1: the trader's instinct tell them everything further that may possibly
1:41:50
Speaker 1: be known of a gem. When fishing is at its height,
1:41:54
Speaker 1: the scene on the banks is one of extreme animation.
1:41:57
Speaker 1: Each craft is a floating hive of competitive none and activity.
1:42:01
Speaker 1: All around are disappearing and reappearing seal like heads. By noon,
1:42:05
Speaker 1: most of the divers are tired out, and if it
1:42:08
Speaker 1: has been a successful day the boats are fairly loaded up,
1:42:11
Speaker 1: a gun is fired from the Master attendant's ship, and
1:42:14
Speaker 1: this gives the signal for pulling up the anchors, hoisting
1:42:16
Speaker 1: the sails, and beginning the run home. The men other
1:42:20
Speaker 1: than the tired out divers occupy themselves nominally in picking
1:42:23
Speaker 1: over their oysters, throwing away stones, shells, and other useless things,
1:42:28
Speaker 1: and in preparing the loads for easy transport from the
1:42:30
Speaker 1: boats to the shore. But as a matter of fact,
1:42:34
Speaker 1: it is well known that this opportunity is seized to
1:42:36
Speaker 1: pick the oysters in another sense. Almost invariably, the finest
1:42:40
Speaker 1: pearls occur just inside the edge of the shells and
1:42:43
Speaker 1: may fall out at any moment. No doubt, many of
1:42:46
Speaker 1: these round and best colored pearls are picked out during
1:42:48
Speaker 1: the run home and concealed about the persons of the
1:42:51
Speaker 1: boat's crew. This is one reason why the government does
1:42:54
Speaker 1: not get its fair share of the pearls. The homeward
1:42:57
Speaker 1: race of a hundred or so ruddy sailed crows before
1:43:00
Speaker 1: a strong wind and over a tropical sea is a
1:43:03
Speaker 1: very pretty sight. They are orientally fantastic in color and shape,
1:43:07
Speaker 1: and each deck is crowded with men and boys with
1:43:10
Speaker 1: shining brown skins and brightly colored claws wrapped round them.
1:43:14
Speaker 1: Each crew strives to get in first, because first come
1:43:17
Speaker 1: is first served, and they who first dispose of their
1:43:20
Speaker 1: loads are the first to be free to rest. The
1:43:22
Speaker 1: load is counted and divided into three piles, and official
1:43:26
Speaker 1: selects two piles for the government, whilst the other is
1:43:28
Speaker 1: divided among the divers. On their way to their houses,
1:43:32
Speaker 1: these divers are besieged by a surging crowd of natives,
1:43:35
Speaker 1: eager to buy from them their oysters by the dozen,
1:43:37
Speaker 1: or by the half dozen, or even Singly, they may
1:43:40
Speaker 1: be observed stopping at boutiques and paying their score, with
1:43:43
Speaker 1: oysters extremely acceptable to the shopkeeper itching to try his
1:43:47
Speaker 1: luck in a small way. Oysters pass current here as
1:43:50
Speaker 1: the equivalent of coin. In the meantime, those oysters belonging
1:43:54
Speaker 1: to the government have all been counted, and at sunset
1:43:56
Speaker 1: a great auction begins. The government agent being seen at
1:44:00
Speaker 1: a platform looking after the proceedings. He announces how many
1:44:04
Speaker 1: of the oysters are for sale, and puts these up
1:44:06
Speaker 1: by the thousand. Any number of thousand, from one to
1:44:09
Speaker 1: fifty or even more are taken by individual purchasers or
1:44:12
Speaker 1: by syndicates. The competition to fix the price of the
1:44:16
Speaker 1: first lot takes about a minute. The prices in a
1:44:19
Speaker 1: single night very considerably and inexplicably. A high price, say
1:44:23
Speaker 1: thirty five rupees per one thousand, may be given at
1:44:26
Speaker 1: the beginning of the evening, and later not more than
1:44:28
Speaker 1: twenty two rupees can be extracted. There's a keen and
1:44:32
Speaker 1: zealous competition, the larger buyers competing against the smaller, or
1:44:35
Speaker 1: all combining in a ring against the government auctioneer. The
1:44:39
Speaker 1: day's catch is generally sold within the same night, but
1:44:42
Speaker 1: if not, the balance is disposed of privately the next morning.
1:44:46
Speaker 1: Early the next day, each purchaser comes to the government
1:44:48
Speaker 1: agent with an order for the number of oysters knocked
1:44:51
Speaker 1: down to him the previous night, and sets to work
1:44:54
Speaker 1: to remove them to his own shed. The washing of
1:44:57
Speaker 1: the pearls from the oyster is a most tedious, primitive,
1:45:00
Speaker 1: and somewhat disgusting process. The oysters are simply left to rot,
1:45:04
Speaker 1: the process being much assisted by vast numbers of a
1:45:06
Speaker 1: species of blow fly, which, after the first day or two,
1:45:09
Speaker 1: infest the whole camp. The maggots of this fly eat
1:45:12
Speaker 1: their way through everything. After a week's rotting. The seething
1:45:16
Speaker 1: and disgusting mass is sorted by hand, and the pearls,
1:45:19
Speaker 1: or such of them as are of sufficient size, are
1:45:21
Speaker 1: picked out. The residue is now ready to be washed.
1:45:25
Speaker 1: This is carried on in dugout canoes or ballums. The
1:45:29
Speaker 1: bi valves are put in and water is poured over them.
1:45:33
Speaker 1: As the water rises, a wriggling mass of maggots floats
1:45:37
Speaker 1: up from the lower recesses. The shells are rinsed and
1:45:40
Speaker 1: the valves are separated and rubbed to remove any detritus
1:45:43
Speaker 1: in which a pearl might lodge. The men scrutinize then
1:45:46
Speaker 1: acarus lining for attached or shell pearls, placing any found
1:45:50
Speaker 1: in a special basket. After the quantity has been reduced somewhat,
1:45:54
Speaker 1: the floating maggots are skimmed off. Some of the water
1:45:57
Speaker 1: is baled out through a sieve, any material that we
1:46:00
Speaker 1: mains therein being carefully returned to the balam lest a
1:46:03
Speaker 1: pearl may be contained or entangled in the dirt. More
1:46:06
Speaker 1: water is then added and the process of washing the
1:46:08
Speaker 1: shells is continued. Finally, after all the shells have been removed,
1:46:12
Speaker 1: a fresh supply of water is poured into the balam
1:46:14
Speaker 1: until it overflows. By this method, the lighter filth is
1:46:17
Speaker 1: got rid of, the remainder of the water is decanted,
1:46:20
Speaker 1: and the heavy debris in which the pearls are mingled
1:46:23
Speaker 1: is exposed. At the bottom, more water is added and
1:46:26
Speaker 1: the de titris or syracu kneaded and turned over and
1:46:30
Speaker 1: over again. This serracu is sorted and winnowed at leisure
1:46:34
Speaker 1: and examined to the smallest sized pearls have been extracted.
1:46:38
Speaker 1: The final search is carried on by women, and it
1:46:40
Speaker 1: is amazing to see what a large quantity of small
1:46:43
Speaker 1: pearls their keen eyes and fine touch enable them to obtain.
1:46:47
Speaker 1: After the pearls are picked out, it is customary to
1:46:49
Speaker 1: offer the apparently exhausted dirt for sale, and ready buyers
1:46:53
Speaker 1: can always be found. In this manner. The pearls of
1:46:56
Speaker 1: our dainty necklaces and engagement rings are rested from nature.
1:47:00
Speaker 1: The whole process is intensely interesting in picturesque, but it
1:47:03
Speaker 1: leaves much to think about afterwards, and much to hope
1:47:06
Speaker 1: for The thing has been going on in the same
1:47:08
Speaker 1: way for centuries, and it would continue for centuries to come.
1:47:12
Speaker 1: If the busy Western mind so full of new ideas
1:47:15
Speaker 1: and plans, were not turning its attention to improving the
1:47:17
Speaker 1: old system. What is wanted is to make this harvest
1:47:21
Speaker 1: of the sea more regular in its occurrence, to economize
1:47:24
Speaker 1: the vast expenditure of human energy now wasted in bringing
1:47:27
Speaker 1: up the oyster from the depths of the sea. The
1:47:30
Speaker 1: pearls might be extracted from the oysters with greater rapidity
1:47:33
Speaker 1: and certainty. More hygienic methods should be employed, and there
1:47:36
Speaker 1: should be more assurance that the government of Ceylon obtains
1:47:39
Speaker 1: its fair share of the revenue. End of Chapter six,
1:47:49
Speaker 1: Chapter seven of Pearls by W. J. Jakin. This liprivox
1:47:54
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne Chapter
1:47:58
Speaker 1: seven Pearl Fisheries other lands, the Persian Gulf. The fisheries
1:48:04
Speaker 1: of the Persian Gulf, like those of Ceylon, have been
1:48:07
Speaker 1: exploited for very many years. They were known in the
1:48:10
Speaker 1: time of Alexander and referred to by Pliny. By some
1:48:14
Speaker 1: These fisheries are supposed to be the most valuable in
1:48:16
Speaker 1: the world, and Serat states that their revenue is estimated
1:48:20
Speaker 1: to be ten million francs annually. The pearl oysters that
1:48:24
Speaker 1: are fished are the species Margherita ferra vulgaris the Ceylon
1:48:28
Speaker 1: pearl oyster, and a variety of Margherita ferra Margherita fera persica.
1:48:35
Speaker 1: The latter is shipped as Bombay shell. The pearl oysters
1:48:39
Speaker 1: occur all along the coast of Arabia, but the banks
1:48:42
Speaker 1: like the pars of Ceylon, where the fishing takes place,
1:48:45
Speaker 1: are situated near the island of Bahrain. The center of
1:48:48
Speaker 1: the industry is perhaps Linga, and the pearls are sometimes
1:48:52
Speaker 1: known as Linga pearls, though the term Bombay pearls is
1:48:55
Speaker 1: quite as frequently given to them. The former appellation refers
1:48:59
Speaker 1: to the place of ore, and the latter to the
1:49:01
Speaker 1: seaport from which they are shipped. Several thousand boats are
1:49:05
Speaker 1: employed in the fishery, but they are usually smaller than
1:49:07
Speaker 1: the slam boats and the crew averages less than a dozen.
1:49:11
Speaker 1: The method of fishing is exactly the same as that
1:49:13
Speaker 1: practiced by the Arab divers at Ceylon. The diver uses
1:49:17
Speaker 1: the same small basket of cocoanut fiber, to which one
1:49:20
Speaker 1: line is attached. For the oysters. There is also a
1:49:24
Speaker 1: line with a heavy stone at the end of it.
1:49:26
Speaker 1: The diver sinks rapidly by entering the water in a
1:49:29
Speaker 1: vertical position with one foot in the loop of the
1:49:31
Speaker 1: rope at its point of attachment to the stone at
1:49:34
Speaker 1: the bottom. He gathers as many pearl oysters as possible,
1:49:37
Speaker 1: places them in the basket, and when ready, gives the
1:49:40
Speaker 1: signal to be hauled up. The basket alone may be
1:49:43
Speaker 1: hauled up with the diver hanging on to it, or
1:49:45
Speaker 1: there may be a rope around the man's waist. The
1:49:48
Speaker 1: fishery last from June to September, when the sea is
1:49:51
Speaker 1: at its best for this purpose. The pearls from the
1:49:54
Speaker 1: Gulf are not so white or so fine as those
1:49:56
Speaker 1: from Ceylon. Frequently they possess a yellow color. Curiously enough, however,
1:50:02
Speaker 1: in Bombay these pearls seem to be preferred to the white.
1:50:06
Speaker 1: The red sea pearl fishery is another ancient industry. It
1:50:10
Speaker 1: was flourishing, in fact in the time of the Ptolemys.
1:50:14
Speaker 1: Two species of pearl oyster are fished, a variety of
1:50:17
Speaker 1: Margherita ferra margaritifera, which is the Egyptian shell of the trade,
1:50:22
Speaker 1: and also the Ceylon species, which is smaller in size
1:50:25
Speaker 1: and fished for pearls alone. Jiddah was at one time
1:50:30
Speaker 1: the chief seat of the industry, but now it has
1:50:32
Speaker 1: lost that position. The pearls are finally exported from Alexandria
1:50:37
Speaker 1: and are known as Egyptians. The Australian pearl fisheries are
1:50:41
Speaker 1: of very considerable importance and are probably the largest and
1:50:44
Speaker 1: best equipped at the present time in the world. The
1:50:48
Speaker 1: fishing for either mother of pearl shell or for pearls
1:50:51
Speaker 1: is carried on at various places on the Northwest, the
1:50:54
Speaker 1: north and the northeastern coasts. For a quarter of a century,
1:50:58
Speaker 1: pearl oyster fishing has ranked as one of the primary
1:51:01
Speaker 1: industries of Western Australia. Being practiced first at Shark's Bay,
1:51:06
Speaker 1: it has been pushed further north, and it is stated
1:51:09
Speaker 1: that the naked diving and the beach combing of the
1:51:11
Speaker 1: Aborigines financed many a settler in the early years of
1:51:15
Speaker 1: his pastoral enterprise. The Queensland fisheries are carried on along
1:51:19
Speaker 1: the tropical coasts of that state, and in particular in
1:51:22
Speaker 1: the Taurus Strait, where some attempt at pearl oyster cultivation
1:51:26
Speaker 1: has been made. The Gulf of Carpentaria is another home
1:51:30
Speaker 1: of the industry. The custom of naked diving appears to
1:51:34
Speaker 1: be gradually dying or to have already disappeared in Australia,
1:51:37
Speaker 1: and the diving dress is usually employed at the same time.
1:51:41
Speaker 1: The divers are largely Melase, Japanese and Manilimen. Although the
1:51:45
Speaker 1: industries financed by the whites, as it has been always
1:51:49
Speaker 1: believed that it was quite impossible to have any but
1:51:51
Speaker 1: colored labor, the industry has enjoyed comparative immunity from the
1:51:55
Speaker 1: rigorous White Australia laws of the Commonwealth. It was decided, however,
1:51:59
Speaker 1: in nineteen eleven, that this industry should conform with the
1:52:02
Speaker 1: laws of the country, and two years notice was given
1:52:05
Speaker 1: so that this year nineteen thirteen should see the employment
1:52:08
Speaker 1: of Europeans as divers. From Western Australia alone, twenty nine thousand,
1:52:13
Speaker 1: two hundred and eighty one carrot weights of pearl shell
1:52:15
Speaker 1: were exported in nineteen ten, the value being two hundred
1:52:19
Speaker 1: forty six thousand, sixty eight pounds. The value of the
1:52:22
Speaker 1: pearls discovered brought this sum up to three hundred forty
1:52:25
Speaker 1: eight thousand, nine hundred and eleven pounds. The working expenses
1:52:30
Speaker 1: of a boat are about five hundred pounds per annum,
1:52:32
Speaker 1: and pearl shell must be worth at least one hundred
1:52:35
Speaker 1: forty pounds a ton to bring in any reasonable profit.
1:52:39
Speaker 1: The pearl fishing of Japan is another extensive one, and
1:52:42
Speaker 1: if we include China and Siberia, we find that as
1:52:44
Speaker 1: many as twenty thousand men were actually employed in fishing
1:52:48
Speaker 1: in nineteen o six. Japan is the first country in
1:52:51
Speaker 1: the world to set up a pearl farming industry based
1:52:54
Speaker 1: upon scientific knowledge. The shell fished in Japanese waters is
1:52:58
Speaker 1: Marguerita fera martensei, and it is particularly abundant in the
1:53:03
Speaker 1: Bay of Agou in the province of Shima. The district
1:53:07
Speaker 1: where the cultivation is carried on is also in this bay,
1:53:10
Speaker 1: and it is reported that as much as twenty two
1:53:13
Speaker 1: square nautical miles were leased in nineteen eleven. American fisheries
1:53:18
Speaker 1: pearl fishing is carried on on both sides of the
1:53:20
Speaker 1: continent of America. The Panama Coast is perhaps most famous,
1:53:25
Speaker 1: and it is said that these pearl banks were discovered
1:53:28
Speaker 1: in fifteen thirty by Vasco Nunez of Bilbao. When Spain
1:53:32
Speaker 1: was an all important power in this part of the world,
1:53:34
Speaker 1: the country was known as Columbia. And large quantities of
1:53:37
Speaker 1: pearls were sent to Europe. The ancient fisheries of the
1:53:40
Speaker 1: Aztec kings were carried on between Acopocco and the Gulf
1:53:44
Speaker 1: of de Huan Teppek. There at the present time quite
1:53:47
Speaker 1: extensive Mexican fisheries. They shall equally in value the pearls.
1:53:51
Speaker 1: The fishing seems to be systematic and new beds are
1:53:54
Speaker 1: constantly being discovered. Both the methods of naked diving and
1:53:58
Speaker 1: diving with dress are employed. Another very extensive fishery is
1:54:02
Speaker 1: to be found on the coast of Venezuela. This also
1:54:05
Speaker 1: dates back before the time of Columbus. The most famous
1:54:08
Speaker 1: banks are on the sides of the island of Margharita,
1:54:11
Speaker 1: which has thus received its name. About four hundred sailing
1:54:15
Speaker 1: boats from three to fifteen tons are employed, according to
1:54:18
Speaker 1: catl and in nineteen o six, practically two thousand men
1:54:21
Speaker 1: were engaged in the fishing. The government of Venezuela has
1:54:25
Speaker 1: given rights and concessions to individuals, in return for which
1:54:28
Speaker 1: it is to receive fifteen percent of the net prophets.
1:54:31
Speaker 1: The species of pearl oyster fished is Margherita fera squamulosa
1:54:36
Speaker 1: and it resembles the Ceylon pearl oyster. The shell is
1:54:40
Speaker 1: very thin, and the mother pearl obtained in these fisheries
1:54:42
Speaker 1: is worth only a fraction of the value of the pearls.
1:54:46
Speaker 1: We have not exhausted by any means the pearl fisheries
1:54:48
Speaker 1: of the world, amongst which may be mentioned also the
1:54:51
Speaker 1: Pacific island fisheries, the fisheries of California, the African coasts
1:54:55
Speaker 1: and the Mediterranean. We shall conclude by a reference to
1:54:58
Speaker 1: the fresh water pearl fisheries which are of importance in
1:55:02
Speaker 1: the rivers of Europe and America. The freshwater pearl muscle
1:55:05
Speaker 1: of Europe is Margharitina Margarita Fera. It has been fished
1:55:09
Speaker 1: in Great Britain from the time of the Romans, and
1:55:12
Speaker 1: in the middle of the eighteenth century large quantities of
1:55:14
Speaker 1: pearls were obtained from these shellfish in the River Tay.
1:55:18
Speaker 1: The Scotch pearl fishery was stimulated again in eighteen sixty.
1:55:22
Speaker 1: The Irish fishery seems to have died out, the shellfish
1:55:25
Speaker 1: being much less common now than formerly. In nineteen o six,
1:55:29
Speaker 1: the value of the pearls collected from the shellfish in
1:55:31
Speaker 1: the British islands was put down as three thousand pounds.
1:55:35
Speaker 1: No elaborate system of boats and dredges is used, and
1:55:37
Speaker 1: probably all the shellfish are obtained by waiting and feeling
1:55:40
Speaker 1: for the individual specimens. On the continent, the fishing has
1:55:44
Speaker 1: been carried on for a long time. In the rivers
1:55:45
Speaker 1: of Finland, the pearls find their way chiefly into Russia.
1:55:49
Speaker 1: The freshwater pearl mussel is also very common in the
1:55:52
Speaker 1: rivers of Germany and Bohemia. Quite recently, the origin of
1:55:56
Speaker 1: pearls in these shellfish has been investigated in great detail
1:55:59
Speaker 1: by the Germans. Reference will be made to their discoveries
1:56:02
Speaker 1: in a later chapter. The fishing has been very regular
1:56:05
Speaker 1: and carefully looked after in these countries. The rivers are
1:56:08
Speaker 1: inspected in springtime and the fishing takes place in summer.
1:56:12
Speaker 1: At the same time, the recent pollution of water by
1:56:14
Speaker 1: factories has caused the usual decrease in the number of mussels.
1:56:18
Speaker 1: Pearls have also been obtained from the French rivers, and
1:56:21
Speaker 1: in fact from many other rivers in Europe, which lack
1:56:24
Speaker 1: of space prevents us from mentioning the total value of
1:56:27
Speaker 1: pearls obtained on the continent of Europe. In nineteen o
1:56:30
Speaker 1: six was about twenty thousand pounds. In America, the fishery
1:56:34
Speaker 1: for fresh water pearls is of greater importance, the value
1:56:37
Speaker 1: of pearls and shell together for nineteen o six being
1:56:39
Speaker 1: about two hundred thousand pounds. The fishery dates back to
1:56:42
Speaker 1: the time of the ancient inhabitants, and remains of the
1:56:45
Speaker 1: shells are found in Indian mounds. The modern fishery was
1:56:49
Speaker 1: stimulated into growth in eighteen fifty seven by the finding
1:56:52
Speaker 1: of a very fine pearl weighing ninety three grains at
1:56:55
Speaker 1: Notch Brook near Paterson, New Jersey. It was sold to
1:56:59
Speaker 1: the Empress Eugenie for twelve thousand, five hundred francs. The
1:57:03
Speaker 1: news of this discovery had an effect similar on a
1:57:05
Speaker 1: small scale to the discovery of gold. The American pearl
1:57:09
Speaker 1: muscles are found in rivers over a very wide area
1:57:11
Speaker 1: of the states in Canada. For further information, reference should
1:57:15
Speaker 1: be made to the literature of American writers who have
1:57:17
Speaker 1: treated this subject in considerable detail. End of chapter seven,
1:57:28
Speaker 1: Chapter eight of Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox
1:57:32
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne. Chapter eight,
1:57:37
Speaker 1: The origin of pearls, whatever be the cause of pearl formation,
1:57:41
Speaker 1: in the different molarcs in which pearls are found, they
1:57:44
Speaker 1: are always pathological products. It may seem strange that the
1:57:48
Speaker 1: beautiful gems, now so much in demand for ornamentation, are
1:57:52
Speaker 1: but calcareous deposits due to some irregularity, some perverted growth,
1:57:57
Speaker 1: or some abnormal process, But such is the case. There is, however,
1:58:02
Speaker 1: no lack of romance in connection with pearls, both in
1:58:05
Speaker 1: the fancies of the East and traditions of the West,
1:58:07
Speaker 1: and even in the sober science of today. The Hindus,
1:58:11
Speaker 1: whose attention must of course have been drawn very early
1:58:14
Speaker 1: to these glorious objects, considered as in fact they do now,
1:58:18
Speaker 1: that the pearls were consolidated drops of dew. They believed
1:58:22
Speaker 1: that the pearl oyster came to the surface and opened
1:58:24
Speaker 1: wide its two valves. Drops of dew fell inside and
1:58:27
Speaker 1: solidified in consequence of the heat of the sun's rays.
1:58:31
Speaker 1: Pliny must have known of the fiction of the Hindus
1:58:34
Speaker 1: when he related the tradition that the pearl oyster rested
1:58:37
Speaker 1: during the night with its valves open and received the
1:58:40
Speaker 1: drops of dew. The very quality of the pearls, their
1:58:43
Speaker 1: whiteness and their brilliance were all supposed to be related
1:58:46
Speaker 1: to the condition of the dew drops that had been
1:58:48
Speaker 1: so transformed. Many a beautiful story has been woven around
1:58:52
Speaker 1: these beliefs. The pearls are Nereid's tears. Again, they are
1:58:58
Speaker 1: dew drops falling into the sea from overhanging leafy boughs.
1:59:02
Speaker 1: Other less fanciful ideas and theories have been promulgated from
1:59:06
Speaker 1: time to time, and every new account of the origin
1:59:08
Speaker 1: of pearls is introduced or prefaced by the enumeration of
1:59:12
Speaker 1: all previous theories. Since this little book is written for
1:59:16
Speaker 1: those who are not likely to consult a long series
1:59:18
Speaker 1: of original works, the author may be pardoned for giving
1:59:21
Speaker 1: yet another similar compilation. What follows is a table listing
1:59:27
Speaker 1: the author and the theory of cause. Alien flashes of lightning Rondelitius,
1:59:35
Speaker 1: fifteen fifty four, Parasites and concretions Ready sixteen seventy one,
1:59:41
Speaker 1: Grains of sand, various sixteenth century writers. Eggs of the
1:59:47
Speaker 1: mollusc reamure seventeen seventeen, Solidification of shell forming fluid Home
1:59:54
Speaker 1: eighteen twenty six. A modified view of the egg theory
1:59:58
Speaker 1: I e. Abortive o. Philippi eighteen fifty two, A worm parasite,
2:00:05
Speaker 1: Dystomum Kouchimmeister, van Hesling and mechel In eighteen fifty six,
2:00:12
Speaker 1: parasites sand eggs Mobius eighteen fifty seven and too zoa
2:00:19
Speaker 1: Kellart eighteen fifty seven to fifty nine, sand diatoms, eggs
2:00:24
Speaker 1: and parasites Garner eighteen sixty three, Dystomum parasite Comba eighteen
2:00:32
Speaker 1: ninety eight, parasites Dubois nineteen oh one, nineteen O three,
2:00:37
Speaker 1: parasites Jamison nineteen o two, parasites Herdman and Hornell nineteen
2:00:44
Speaker 1: o two two, nineteen o six, parasites et cetera Srot
2:00:49
Speaker 1: nineteen o two, parasites Guillard nineteen o three, parasites Bhutan,
2:00:55
Speaker 1: nineteen o four, parasites Rubble nineteen eleven, Chalseace Jameson nineteen twelve.
2:01:03
Speaker 1: Shall repair substance and perhaps parasites. It will perhaps be
2:01:08
Speaker 1: startling even to scientists who have not read up the
2:01:11
Speaker 1: older biological literature to see how often the theories of
2:01:15
Speaker 1: sand grain and the parasite causation have been brought forward
2:01:18
Speaker 1: in the past. The grain of sand theory dates back
2:01:21
Speaker 1: much further too than ready sixteen seventy one. Whilst this
2:01:25
Speaker 1: view dominated our older text books and particularly school books,
2:01:29
Speaker 1: in popular works until quite recently, the idea that a
2:01:32
Speaker 1: parasite provided the stimulus for pro formation has been repeatedly
2:01:36
Speaker 1: put forward since fifteen fifty four. The older workers did
2:01:40
Speaker 1: little more than make guesses, but Philippi as far back
2:01:43
Speaker 1: as eighteen fifty two actually discovered a parasite as cause
2:01:47
Speaker 1: in the fresh water muscle. It will be seen, therefore,
2:01:50
Speaker 1: that all the workers of the last ten years, who
2:01:52
Speaker 1: have pushed the research upon pro formation as far as
2:01:56
Speaker 1: fresh advances in biological technique will allow, have had at
2:02:00
Speaker 1: least numerous helpful suggestions left as a legacy by their predecessors.
2:02:04
Speaker 1: We shall only refer in detail to one or two
2:02:07
Speaker 1: of the causes tabulated. First, let us look at the
2:02:10
Speaker 1: old grain of sand theory, which modern writers have tended
2:02:13
Speaker 1: to throw over completely, notwithstanding the fact that Herdman and
2:02:16
Speaker 1: other workers have recorded sand grains as occasional nuclei in pearls.
2:02:22
Speaker 1: This theory assumed that grains of sand found their way
2:02:25
Speaker 1: between the shell and the mantle of the mollusk and
2:02:27
Speaker 1: irritated the latter so that it responded by coating the
2:02:30
Speaker 1: invading object with layers of pearly substance. This certainly does
2:02:34
Speaker 1: take place sometimes, and a similar process follows the introduction
2:02:38
Speaker 1: by man of small objects between shell and nocre, secreting tissues.
2:02:43
Speaker 1: As we have seen. However, in another place, the pearly
2:02:46
Speaker 1: objects so formed are not really pearls but blisters. The Chinese,
2:02:51
Speaker 1: for example, insert rows of images of Buddha between the
2:02:54
Speaker 1: mantle and shell and allow them to remain until coated
2:02:57
Speaker 1: with nacre. There are, however, a few cases on record
2:03:00
Speaker 1: where free pearls have been found with sand grains as nuclear. Consequently,
2:03:05
Speaker 1: we must assume as an occasional true cause of pearl
2:03:07
Speaker 1: formation the minute sand grain. Probably this cause is of
2:03:11
Speaker 1: rare occurrence and of little importance. Now let us look
2:03:15
Speaker 1: at two very important theories, and first at that which
2:03:19
Speaker 1: regards the entrance of a parasite into the shell fish
2:03:22
Speaker 1: as the cause of pearl formation. We have seen that
2:03:25
Speaker 1: the structure of pearls is intimately related to the structure
2:03:28
Speaker 1: of the mollusk shell. The latter is secreted by a
2:03:31
Speaker 1: layer of cells which bounds the surface of the mantle.
2:03:35
Speaker 1: Now it must be borne in mind during the following
2:03:37
Speaker 1: study that pearls are formed inside a little sack of cells.
2:03:42
Speaker 1: This pearl sack was recognized by von Hessling in eighteen
2:03:45
Speaker 1: fifty eight. It is composed of a single layer of
2:03:48
Speaker 1: cells which are very similar to those bounding the surface
2:03:51
Speaker 1: of the mantle against the shell. In fact, just as
2:03:55
Speaker 1: the mantle cells secrete shell substance of one kind or another,
2:03:58
Speaker 1: so do the pearl sack cells secrete the layers which
2:04:02
Speaker 1: build up the pearl. It will be quite clear then
2:04:05
Speaker 1: that if we can say definitely in every case how
2:04:08
Speaker 1: and why the pearl sac has been formed, we shall
2:04:11
Speaker 1: have solved the problem of the origin of pearls. The
2:04:15
Speaker 1: Italian scientist Philippi is usually credited as being the originator
2:04:19
Speaker 1: of the view that the nucleus of pearls is an
2:04:22
Speaker 1: entombed parasite. This investigator, whilst examining freshwater muscles an odonta
2:04:29
Speaker 1: quite common in our ponds and streams in the Royal
2:04:32
Speaker 1: parks near turin eighteen fifty two, was surprised at the
2:04:36
Speaker 1: large number of pearls found therein At the same time,
2:04:39
Speaker 1: the abundance of pearls was attended by the presence of
2:04:42
Speaker 1: large numbers of a parasitic flat worm Dystoma duplicatum. Philippi
2:04:48
Speaker 1: next examined the pearls, which were of various ages and sizes,
2:04:52
Speaker 1: and found always an organic nucleus. It was apparently impossible
2:04:56
Speaker 1: to recognize definitely in the entombed organic matter the of
2:05:00
Speaker 1: the worm, but arguing from the abundance of both pearls
2:05:03
Speaker 1: and worm parasites and the organic nuclei, Philippy did not
2:05:07
Speaker 1: hesitate to suggest that the worm parasites had caused pearl formation. Later,
2:05:12
Speaker 1: Philippy recognized certain parasitic remains in other pearl nuclei remains
2:05:17
Speaker 1: of other species of worms. In eighteen fifty six, Cuchemeister
2:05:23
Speaker 1: found in both Nata and Unio, both common shell fish
2:05:27
Speaker 1: of fresh water ponds and streams in the British Isles,
2:05:30
Speaker 1: the remains of an anthropod in the nuclei of pearls.
2:05:34
Speaker 1: In eighteen fifty seven, a German zoologist, Mobius, took up
2:05:38
Speaker 1: work on pearls and penetrated much more deeply than his
2:05:41
Speaker 1: predecessors into the mysteries of pearl formation. He did not
2:05:44
Speaker 1: content himself with the fresh water pearls from his own country,
2:05:47
Speaker 1: but examined those from Indian and American mollucs. Once more,
2:05:52
Speaker 1: the general absence of the grain of sand as nucleus
2:05:55
Speaker 1: was noted, and yet again the presence of a worm
2:05:58
Speaker 1: parasite was put on record. We find about the same
2:06:01
Speaker 1: period that doctor Callart, a medical officer in Ceylon, who
2:06:04
Speaker 1: was one of the first workers on the Ceylon pearl Oyster,
2:06:08
Speaker 1: repeated the statement that minute parasitic worms were the cause
2:06:11
Speaker 1: of pearls, this time that they were the cause of
2:06:15
Speaker 1: the true Oriental pearls. Numerous investigators followed, but there is
2:06:19
Speaker 1: unfortunately no room here for a history of their searchings
2:06:22
Speaker 1: and theories, and we must give over the intervening years
2:06:25
Speaker 1: until we come to the much more definite and recent
2:06:28
Speaker 1: work of Dubois de Jou, Jamison, Bhutan, and Herdmann. So far,
2:06:33
Speaker 1: it will be seen that workers had set themselves to
2:06:36
Speaker 1: discover the contents of the nuclei of pearls, and it
2:06:39
Speaker 1: may be admitted that it is by no means an
2:06:41
Speaker 1: easy task to make out in sections what the organic
2:06:44
Speaker 1: debris of such nuclei might once have been. Now, though
2:06:49
Speaker 1: we are at present dealing with the history of the
2:06:52
Speaker 1: parasitic theory, it will be of interest to note here
2:06:55
Speaker 1: that objections of remarkable force were made to it by
2:06:58
Speaker 1: von Hessling, who wrote an eighteen fifty eight. The importance
2:07:02
Speaker 1: of his statements, however, is only just being recognized. Von
2:07:06
Speaker 1: Hessling believed that in rare cases, foreign bodies of various
2:07:09
Speaker 1: kinds getting into the mollusc might provoke pearl formation, but
2:07:13
Speaker 1: he regarded as the chief cause some sequence of events
2:07:17
Speaker 1: intimately connected with the phenomena of shell growth. He makes,
2:07:21
Speaker 1: in this connection the very noteworthy statement that the nucleus
2:07:24
Speaker 1: of pearls is very often formed of granules of the
2:07:27
Speaker 1: substance which forms the external layer of the shell, the
2:07:31
Speaker 1: horny periostracum. Reference will be made to this observation later,
2:07:36
Speaker 1: and it will then be seen how closely this agrees
2:07:38
Speaker 1: with some recent views. The modern period of activity in
2:07:42
Speaker 1: pearl research may for our purpose be taken as dating
2:07:45
Speaker 1: from about eighteen ninety seven. In eighteen ninety nine, Leon
2:07:50
Speaker 1: de Juet describe the pearl sac already seen by von Hesling,
2:07:54
Speaker 1: and this was supposed to secrete nacri round the remains
2:07:57
Speaker 1: of a parasite, which then formed the nucleus the pearl.
2:08:01
Speaker 1: In nineteen o one, Raphael Dubois published a paper on
2:08:04
Speaker 1: pearl formation in mitilis the common edible muscle, his specimens
2:08:09
Speaker 1: being taken from the French coast, and during the same
2:08:12
Speaker 1: year Jamison followed Dubois in working at the same problem
2:08:16
Speaker 1: at the same place Builliere in Brittany. His paper followed
2:08:21
Speaker 1: in nineteen o two and confirmed the discovery of Dubois.
2:08:25
Speaker 1: Both of these workers definitely established the fact that in
2:08:28
Speaker 1: the edible muscle from Billiere, pearl formation was caused by
2:08:32
Speaker 1: larval worms, which were parasites in the shellfish. Moreover, the
2:08:36
Speaker 1: larvae were recognized as the young of the flatworms known
2:08:39
Speaker 1: as trematodes, related to the familiar species which occurs in
2:08:43
Speaker 1: the liver of sheep and causes liver rot. Dubois simply
2:08:47
Speaker 1: followed up the methods of previous investigators. Jamison gave a
2:08:51
Speaker 1: much more detailed account of peer formation and pointed out
2:08:54
Speaker 1: the great importance of discovering the method by which the
2:08:57
Speaker 1: larval parasite caused the formation of the pearls. In addition
2:09:02
Speaker 1: to this, he attempted to trace the young parasite to
2:09:04
Speaker 1: the adult worm. Like many other parasites, this worm requires
2:09:08
Speaker 1: several hosts in order that it may live its normal life.
2:09:11
Speaker 1: Just as the trematodae parasite the liver fluke of the
2:09:14
Speaker 1: sheep requires two hosts upon snail and the sheep, and
2:09:18
Speaker 1: as the well known malarial causing parasite requires both mosquitoes
2:09:22
Speaker 1: and man, so does the worm parasite in the mussel
2:09:25
Speaker 1: require at least one other host. Jamison attempted to piece
2:09:28
Speaker 1: together by experiments this life history and came to the
2:09:31
Speaker 1: conclusion that the adult form lived in a bird, the
2:09:35
Speaker 1: common scoter, which feeds on the muscles and destroys large
2:09:38
Speaker 1: numbers of them at Billie. His investigations gave the following
2:09:42
Speaker 1: interesting life cycle for the parasite. The adult worm, which
2:09:46
Speaker 1: he considered to be Yocuthodendrium somiterie, lives in the scoter
2:09:53
Speaker 1: Oedemia negra, and there produces its eggs. The eggs pass
2:09:57
Speaker 1: out of the bird to the external world, where probably
2:10:00
Speaker 1: most of them die. The fortunate ones, however, either themselves
2:10:04
Speaker 1: become or give rise to a tiny free swimming larvae
2:10:07
Speaker 1: which reaches the bivalve tapis or else the common edible
2:10:11
Speaker 1: cockle Cardium dulee. In one or other of these mollusks,
2:10:16
Speaker 1: the eggs or larvae commence the first part of their
2:10:18
Speaker 1: life and develop into spherical cysts. From the walls of
2:10:22
Speaker 1: these cis, other larvae are formed. These leave the cockle
2:10:26
Speaker 1: or a tapis, and if fortunate, eventually reach a mussel.
2:10:30
Speaker 1: They bore into the mussel and come to rest in
2:10:32
Speaker 1: its tissues and round them. An epithelial sack of cells
2:10:36
Speaker 1: may appear. Now if the muscle should be eaten by
2:10:40
Speaker 1: a bird the scoter, the larvae reaching their final host
2:10:43
Speaker 1: develop into the adult worm, and that is the end
2:10:46
Speaker 1: of the story. If, however, the epithelial sac is formed
2:10:50
Speaker 1: and the muscle does not fall prey to some predaceous bird,
2:10:54
Speaker 1: the trematode larvae dies and round its remains. The epithelial
2:10:58
Speaker 1: sac secretes a mausoles of pearl. A more startling story
2:11:02
Speaker 1: could hardly be imagined, but most of the life cycles
2:11:05
Speaker 1: of animal parasites are extraordinarily exciting. We may tabulate the
2:11:09
Speaker 1: stages as follows. Trematode worm lives as an adult in
2:11:14
Speaker 1: the bird the sculter and produces eggs. Eggs pass into
2:11:19
Speaker 1: or eggs give rise to free swimming larvae, which pass
2:11:22
Speaker 1: into the edible cockle, where eggs or larvae give rise
2:11:26
Speaker 1: by budding to other larvae. A second series of larvae
2:11:30
Speaker 1: migrate to an edible muscle. In the edible muscle, the
2:11:34
Speaker 1: larvae cause pearl formation and are entombed and die, or
2:11:38
Speaker 1: the muscle is devoured by scuder, in which case the
2:11:42
Speaker 1: larvae become adult worms in the scoterer. With regard to
2:11:46
Speaker 1: the pearl sac which appears around the worm larvae in
2:11:49
Speaker 1: the mussel, Jamison accounted wrongly for its origin in nineteen
2:11:52
Speaker 1: o two, he states that this epithelium appears to arise
2:11:56
Speaker 1: quite independently of the outer epidermis, and is no doubt
2:12:00
Speaker 1: due to a specific stimulation on the part of the parasite,
2:12:03
Speaker 1: as other parasites e g. Sporrosis, cestode larvae, et cetera.
2:12:09
Speaker 1: Are not surrounded by such a sack. He continues by saying,
2:12:14
Speaker 1: at first a few cells appear, which proliferate and arrange
2:12:17
Speaker 1: themselves along the wall of the cavity. From the first
2:12:20
Speaker 1: these cells are basically continuous with fibers of connective tissue.
2:12:24
Speaker 1: Their transformation into the pearl sc is a gradual one,
2:12:27
Speaker 1: and every step can be traced in sections from the
2:12:30
Speaker 1: parasites in situ. It was the Frenchman l Buton in
2:12:36
Speaker 1: nineteen o four, who continued the investigation of pearl formation
2:12:40
Speaker 1: in the edible muscle mitylus, and completed the story by
2:12:44
Speaker 1: describing how the pearl sac was really formed by the parasite.
2:12:48
Speaker 1: Button states that the parasitic larvae in the common muscle
2:12:51
Speaker 1: reaches the space between the shell and the mantle of
2:12:54
Speaker 1: the mollusk. It then comes to lie in a little
2:12:57
Speaker 1: pit or depression in the epithelium of the mantle. Gradually,
2:13:02
Speaker 1: the parasite sinks deeper and deeper, The epithelium of the
2:13:05
Speaker 1: depression becomes a little flask, and finally a sack, just
2:13:09
Speaker 1: communicating with the surface by a small opening. In the end,
2:13:13
Speaker 1: the sac becomes cut off altogether, and we have a
2:13:16
Speaker 1: parasite lying in a little sack, the pearl sac of epithelium,
2:13:20
Speaker 1: which is decidedly the same as the shell secreting epithelium
2:13:23
Speaker 1: of the mantle. Because it was once continuous with it,
2:13:28
Speaker 1: this pearl sac will have already commenced secreting layers of
2:13:31
Speaker 1: shell like substance around the parasite, which has been the
2:13:34
Speaker 1: cause of the sequence of events leading to its formation. Thus,
2:13:38
Speaker 1: pearls are formed in the common edible muscle. This method, however,
2:13:42
Speaker 1: is not to be supposed for a moment as applicable
2:13:44
Speaker 1: to other mollusks without experimental evidence. As a matter of fact,
2:13:49
Speaker 1: it is not the only method of pearl formation even
2:13:52
Speaker 1: in mytilus. Now let us turn to the sale on
2:13:55
Speaker 1: pearl oyster which produces such valuable pearls, and see what
2:13:59
Speaker 1: processes are there. The problem of the origin of the
2:14:03
Speaker 1: valuable Oriental pearls is obviously of greater economical importance than
2:14:07
Speaker 1: that of the mitilius pearls. The discussion of the theories
2:14:11
Speaker 1: brought forward would be given in two separate sections. For
2:14:14
Speaker 1: if the descriptions of pearl formation in the freshwater muscle
2:14:17
Speaker 1: is interpreted in the middle of our account of the
2:14:19
Speaker 1: Ceylon pearl oyster, we shall be following the discoveries in
2:14:22
Speaker 1: their proper sequence. In nineteen o two, the British government
2:14:26
Speaker 1: sent to Ceylon a scientific commission consisting of Professor Herdman
2:14:30
Speaker 1: and mister J. Hornell, in order to report on the
2:14:33
Speaker 1: condition of the famous pearl banks of the Gulf of Manar, which,
2:14:37
Speaker 1: notwithstanding numerous bad years, have yielded much profit to the
2:14:40
Speaker 1: government of Ceylon. The results of their investigations are extremely valuable,
2:14:45
Speaker 1: and it must be remembered that the primary object of
2:14:48
Speaker 1: the expedition was to report upon the conditions of the
2:14:51
Speaker 1: pearl banks, the distribution of the beds of pearl oysters,
2:14:54
Speaker 1: and the influences affecting their life and prosperity. However, in
2:14:59
Speaker 1: addition to the Herdman and Hornell also examined many pearl
2:15:02
Speaker 1: oysters and such pearls as were obtained, for the purpose
2:15:06
Speaker 1: of determining the cause of their formation. Obviously, they were
2:15:10
Speaker 1: well acquainted with the numerous theories of their predecessors when
2:15:13
Speaker 1: they first went out to Ceylon, and consequently, when in
2:15:16
Speaker 1: March nineteen o two they noticed numerous white larvae parasitic
2:15:20
Speaker 1: in the liver of the pearl oyster, they devoted some
2:15:23
Speaker 1: attention to their occurrence and nature, and came to the
2:15:26
Speaker 1: conclusion that these parasites were the young of cestode worms.
2:15:30
Speaker 1: The most familiar systudy worms are the common tapeworms of man,
2:15:33
Speaker 1: the dog, et cetera, and subsequent work showed that some
2:15:37
Speaker 1: at least of them were the larvae of a worm
2:15:39
Speaker 1: that occurs frequently in elasmo branch fishes. And is called tetraorhyncus. Now,
2:15:48
Speaker 1: sections of the ceylon pearls in situ differ considerably from
2:15:52
Speaker 1: those of mitylus pearls, and in two ways the pearl
2:15:56
Speaker 1: sac is not nearly so distinct, and the nucleus of
2:15:58
Speaker 1: the pearl is much smaller and looks different. In several cases,
2:16:02
Speaker 1: Herdmann could not find any nucleus at all. We've already
2:16:06
Speaker 1: seen that there are two kinds of pearls in the
2:16:07
Speaker 1: ceylon pearl, oyster cyst or parenchyma pearls and muscle pearls,
2:16:13
Speaker 1: the latter occurring in large numbers near the insertions of
2:16:16
Speaker 1: the muscles. The muscle pearls were never believed by Herdman
2:16:20
Speaker 1: to have been caused by parasites. Herdman and Hornell stated
2:16:23
Speaker 1: that it was probable that these pearls were formed by
2:16:26
Speaker 1: the deposition of calcareous matter round some minute calcareous particles
2:16:30
Speaker 1: or calcospherrils. The origin of the calcospherrils themselves was guessed
2:16:35
Speaker 1: at by Southwell, who stated that they were almost certainly
2:16:38
Speaker 1: depositions from the blood. From what we have already seen,
2:16:42
Speaker 1: we should expect an epithelial sact to be present to
2:16:45
Speaker 1: deposit this calcareous matter. From whence does this come if
2:16:49
Speaker 1: not brought in by a parasite. Herdman and Hornell, noticing
2:16:53
Speaker 1: that the muscle pearls were formed very close to the
2:16:56
Speaker 1: surface of the mantle, found no difficulty in presuming that
2:16:59
Speaker 1: the epithelial cells on the surface of the mantle might
2:17:02
Speaker 1: migrate inwards to the source of irritation. So much then
2:17:07
Speaker 1: for the muscle pearls, to which we shall return later.
2:17:10
Speaker 1: Suffice it to say that Herdman and Hornell believed them
2:17:13
Speaker 1: to be formed owing to internal causes, and not to
2:17:16
Speaker 1: any parasite or other body of external origin. With regard
2:17:21
Speaker 1: to the other really fine oriental pearls, Herdman and Hornell
2:17:24
Speaker 1: came to the conclusion that the chief agent concerned in
2:17:27
Speaker 1: their formation was the tapeworm larvae, which occurred so frequently
2:17:31
Speaker 1: in the pearl oysters. The oriental pearls are, of course,
2:17:35
Speaker 1: like all others, formed by the activity of a pearl sac,
2:17:38
Speaker 1: and Herdman recognized the great resemblance of this to the
2:17:42
Speaker 1: outer shell secreting epithelium. The origin of the pearl sac has, however,
2:17:47
Speaker 1: never been observed in the Ceylon pearl oyster. But Herdman
2:17:50
Speaker 1: thought that the parasite boring into the mollusc might carry
2:17:53
Speaker 1: in certain epithelial cells from the surface. What is the
2:17:58
Speaker 1: life story of this parasite which occur hers in the
2:18:00
Speaker 1: pearl oyster? It must be confessed that so much doubt
2:18:03
Speaker 1: exists concerning the relation of the insisted larvae to both
2:18:06
Speaker 1: the pearls and the adult tapeworms, that the technicalities are
2:18:10
Speaker 1: beyond the scope of this little book. The conclusions of Herdman, Hornell,
2:18:14
Speaker 1: and Shipley, who describe the parasites found in the ceylon,
2:18:17
Speaker 1: pearl oysters, and fishes, can be expressed in the following form.
2:18:21
Speaker 1: The egg of the worm hatches in the sea, and
2:18:23
Speaker 1: the free swimming larva enters and infects the pearl oyster,
2:18:28
Speaker 1: where the larva stimulates pearl formation and dies entombed in
2:18:31
Speaker 1: pearl or becomes encrusted and eventually a larval tapeworm. In
2:18:37
Speaker 1: case one, the pearl oyster is then eaten by a filefish.
2:18:42
Speaker 1: Moving into the filefish, the worm larva becomes an immature tapeworm.
2:18:47
Speaker 1: The filefish is then eaten by a ray hold that thought.
2:18:53
Speaker 1: In case two, the pearl oyster is eaten by a
2:18:55
Speaker 1: large ray. In both cases, Now in the ray, the
2:18:59
Speaker 1: worm larvae or the immature tape worm becomes the adult
2:19:03
Speaker 1: tetraincus and eggs are matured and set free, And we
2:19:08
Speaker 1: then move back to the beginning, where the egg of
2:19:10
Speaker 1: the worm hatches in the sea and the free swimming
2:19:13
Speaker 1: larva enters and infects the pearl oyster. It will be
2:19:18
Speaker 1: seen that there are two possibilities. If one be taken,
2:19:21
Speaker 1: there are two hosts only for the parasite. In the
2:19:23
Speaker 1: other case there are three hosts. In this latter, the
2:19:26
Speaker 1: worm larvae has first to enter a pearl oyster in
2:19:29
Speaker 1: which it passes its first days. The pearl oyster must
2:19:32
Speaker 1: then be eaten by a filefish or other teleosteon in
2:19:36
Speaker 1: order that the second stage of life of the parasite
2:19:39
Speaker 1: may be safely negotiated, and finally a third host, the ray,
2:19:43
Speaker 1: must be reached by the annihilation of the filefish. Truly
2:19:46
Speaker 1: an interesting picture of the dependence of animals one on another.
2:19:50
Speaker 1: If these theories are correct, it is therefore necessary for
2:19:53
Speaker 1: pearl production to be assured to have pearl oysters, warm parasites,
2:19:58
Speaker 1: file fishes and the rays present together in the same
2:20:01
Speaker 1: locality as a matter of fact, it is very probable
2:20:04
Speaker 1: that the filefish is only an accidental host, and that
2:20:08
Speaker 1: the direct passage of the larvae from the pearl oyster
2:20:10
Speaker 1: to the ray is all that is required. Now, are
2:20:14
Speaker 1: we to consider that the majority of fine oriental pearls
2:20:17
Speaker 1: have been produced by the influence of a worm parasite
2:20:20
Speaker 1: or not? Jamison doubts the cestode worm theory, although in
2:20:24
Speaker 1: nineteen o two he stated that he himself found worm
2:20:27
Speaker 1: parasites in decalcified and sectioned pearls from the ceylon oyster.
2:20:32
Speaker 1: Let us leave the ceylon pearl oyster for a while
2:20:34
Speaker 1: and turn to the most recent scientific work on the
2:20:36
Speaker 1: freshwater mussel in Germany. Rubble working at Marburg has once
2:20:42
Speaker 1: more shown how often the older scientists came near the
2:20:45
Speaker 1: solution of problems not finally solved till today. According to
2:20:49
Speaker 1: the investigations of this worker, the fresh water mussels Margharitana
2:20:54
Speaker 1: Margherita fera examined by him, contained few parasites that could
2:20:58
Speaker 1: give rise to pearls. Parasites were moreover not found to
2:21:03
Speaker 1: be the cause of performation in this shell fish. The
2:21:06
Speaker 1: nuclear of the pearls consisted of particles of a yellow
2:21:09
Speaker 1: brown substance that was strongly refractive. The substance could be
2:21:13
Speaker 1: found scattered in the connective tissue of the mantle and
2:21:16
Speaker 1: also in the shell secreting epithelium of the mantle. Furthermore,
2:21:20
Speaker 1: it seemed to be related to the substance of the
2:21:23
Speaker 1: outer layers of the shell, i e. The periostracum. In short,
2:21:28
Speaker 1: we are reminded of the views of von Hessling put
2:21:30
Speaker 1: forward in eighteen fifty nine. In order to understand fully
2:21:34
Speaker 1: the mechanism of pearl formation, Roubo first made experiments to
2:21:37
Speaker 1: determine what the outer shell secreting epithelium of the mantle
2:21:41
Speaker 1: could do in the way of repairing broken shells or
2:21:44
Speaker 1: regenerating pieces of shell which were removed. He discovered that
2:21:48
Speaker 1: the not grace secreting epithelium normally secreting the mother of
2:21:52
Speaker 1: pearl layer had the power or potentiality of producing all
2:21:56
Speaker 1: the other layers of the shell. The pearls, however, as
2:21:59
Speaker 1: we have already seen, consist of some or even all
2:22:03
Speaker 1: of the layers of substance which form the shell. They
2:22:06
Speaker 1: sometimes consist only of perostracum and are yellow or brown
2:22:10
Speaker 1: and horny looking. In appearance. Most pearls, however, consist of
2:22:14
Speaker 1: concentric layers of periostracum, prismatic substance, and neck rate, with
2:22:19
Speaker 1: another layer present in places the hypostratum. These layers may
2:22:23
Speaker 1: alternate irregularly. The yellow brown granules refer to above as
2:22:28
Speaker 1: being akin to the substance of the periostracum are to
2:22:31
Speaker 1: be found in the outer epithelium. Ruba believes that some
2:22:35
Speaker 1: of them are dissolved. Others, however, remain and stimulate the
2:22:38
Speaker 1: epithelium in some way so that they become surrounded with
2:22:41
Speaker 1: cells directly continuous with the other epithelium. There are many
2:22:45
Speaker 1: points of resemblance here with the effect of parasites as
2:22:48
Speaker 1: described by Button, but it will be noticed that the
2:22:51
Speaker 1: granules internally produced are the cause, and that they do
2:22:55
Speaker 1: not lie outside the epithelium. The cells surrounding the granite
2:23:00
Speaker 1: secrete new substance round this nucleus, and we may already
2:23:03
Speaker 1: speak of the little body so formed as a young pearl. Gradually,
2:23:08
Speaker 1: the epithelial pearl sac with its contained pearl, breaks away
2:23:11
Speaker 1: from the outer epithelium, until finally it is completely separated
2:23:16
Speaker 1: and lies free in the tissues. So the pearl formation
2:23:19
Speaker 1: in this freshwater muscle commences actually in the outer epithelium
2:23:23
Speaker 1: and is caused by a product of the mollusc itself.
2:23:27
Speaker 1: Thus we arrive at a very important point, which is
2:23:30
Speaker 1: that there is no obvious difference between muscle pearls and
2:23:33
Speaker 1: other true pearls, for both are formed round nuclei which
2:23:36
Speaker 1: are products of the shell fish. Any difference in structure
2:23:40
Speaker 1: may be simply due to their difference in position. The
2:23:43
Speaker 1: pearl sac appears to possess the power of secreting all
2:23:46
Speaker 1: the various kinds of shell substance one after the other.
2:23:49
Speaker 1: Parts of it may even be secreting one kind of
2:23:51
Speaker 1: substance whilst other parts secrete another. What determines the character
2:23:56
Speaker 1: of the substance to be secreted is quite unknown. Thus
2:24:00
Speaker 1: we have dealt with the second method and cause of
2:24:02
Speaker 1: pearl formation, which has now been demonstrated by Rubel to
2:24:05
Speaker 1: be a frequent occurrence. In conclusion, let us return once
2:24:09
Speaker 1: more to the oriental pearls from the Ceylon pearl oyster.
2:24:12
Speaker 1: We have seen that Herdmann recognized various causes, and that
2:24:15
Speaker 1: the muscle pearls were supposed by him to be formed
2:24:18
Speaker 1: around a substance which was a product of the shellfish itself.
2:24:22
Speaker 1: The chief cause, however, in the case of cyst pearls,
2:24:25
Speaker 1: was supposed to be a Cistodae parasite which was found
2:24:28
Speaker 1: infecting the oysters in abundance. Jamison examined a very large
2:24:32
Speaker 1: number of oriental pearls and published an account of his
2:24:35
Speaker 1: results last year nineteen twelve, which, though written without any
2:24:39
Speaker 1: knowledge of Ruble's paper, agrees in a remarkable way with
2:24:42
Speaker 1: this author's conclusions for the freshwater mussel. This renders it
2:24:46
Speaker 1: extremely probable that the method described above and discovered by
2:24:50
Speaker 1: Rubele is of very general application and is the chief
2:24:54
Speaker 1: cause of pearl formation in many other molloks. Jamison does
2:24:58
Speaker 1: not call the layers seen in the pearl by the
2:25:00
Speaker 1: names of similar layers in the shell. He recognizes the
2:25:04
Speaker 1: resemblance to repair substances of regenerated shell, and so uses
2:25:08
Speaker 1: terms granular repair nockrate, columnar repair substance, and amorphous repair
2:25:13
Speaker 1: substance for the nochre, prismatic substance, and periostracum, respectively. The
2:25:19
Speaker 1: formation of the pearl sac has, however, not even yet
2:25:23
Speaker 1: been traced in the ceylon pearl oyster. From the evidence
2:25:26
Speaker 1: of structure, Jamison concludes that the tapeward cause is of
2:25:29
Speaker 1: little importance in the case of ceylon pearls, and that
2:25:32
Speaker 1: whilst sand granules in other foreign particles or organic bodies
2:25:36
Speaker 1: may form the nucleus of these pearls, a foreign nucleus
2:25:39
Speaker 1: is probably exceptional. The factors giving rise to the pearl
2:25:43
Speaker 1: sacs have therefore yet to be discovered. We would suggest
2:25:47
Speaker 1: as probable that eventually a sequence of events similar to
2:25:51
Speaker 1: that observed by rubble in the fresh water muscle will
2:25:54
Speaker 1: be discovered in the case of the ceylon oyster. Thus
2:25:58
Speaker 1: we have seen how pearls may be caused by foreign bodies,
2:26:01
Speaker 1: sand grains, parasites, or other objects, or by internal products
2:26:05
Speaker 1: of the pearl producing mollusc. As Dubois, in a recent
2:26:08
Speaker 1: summary of the matter, puts it alexis du categories do
2:26:13
Speaker 1: margritos ou meldi perier lune, perreeterre et l'atre non perezel.
2:26:21
Speaker 1: The importance of the causes referred to varies according to
2:26:24
Speaker 1: the species of shellfish in which the pearls are found.
2:26:27
Speaker 1: But whatever cause we look into, we find something of
2:26:30
Speaker 1: the romance of science, a knowledge of which cannot fail
2:26:33
Speaker 1: to increase the value of the pearl as a gem
2:26:35
Speaker 1: in the eyes of any enlightened owner. End of chapter eight,
2:26:46
Speaker 1: Chapter nine of Pearls by W. J. Daikin this LibriVox
2:26:50
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne, Chapter nine,
2:26:55
Speaker 1: Pearls in Jewelry and Trade generally odd facts. It will
2:27:00
Speaker 1: have become evident from the preceding chapters that the pearl
2:27:03
Speaker 1: is still retaining its hold in the fashionable world of
2:27:06
Speaker 1: the twentieth century. As a matter of fact, the value
2:27:09
Speaker 1: of pearls has steadily increased in the last decade, notwithstanding
2:27:12
Speaker 1: the opening of new fishing grounds. The pearl industry, speaking
2:27:16
Speaker 1: only of the actual fishing itself, plays no small part
2:27:19
Speaker 1: in the economics of the world, and the following table
2:27:22
Speaker 1: from Kuntz and Stevenson's volume showing the number of fissures
2:27:25
Speaker 1: and the approximate value of the products found by them
2:27:28
Speaker 1: in nineteen o six supports this statement. Asia Persian Gulf
2:27:34
Speaker 1: pearl fishers thirty five thousand local value of pearls eight
2:27:38
Speaker 1: hundred thousand pounds local value of shell twenty two thousand pounds.
2:27:43
Speaker 1: Ceylon pearl fishers eighteen thousand, five hundred local value of
2:27:48
Speaker 1: pearls two hundred forty thousand pounds local value of shell
2:27:51
Speaker 1: eight thousand pounds. India pearl fishers one thousand, two hundred
2:27:56
Speaker 1: and fifty local value of pearls twenty thousand pounds, local
2:28:00
Speaker 1: value of shell nineteen thousand pounds. Red Sea, Gulf of
2:28:04
Speaker 1: Arabia and African Coast pearl fishers three thousand, local value
2:28:09
Speaker 1: of pearls forty thousand pounds, local value of shell thirty
2:28:12
Speaker 1: thousand pounds. China, Japan, Siberia pearl fishers twenty thousand, local
2:28:18
Speaker 1: value of pearls eighty thousand pounds, local value of shell
2:28:22
Speaker 1: ten thousand pounds. In Europe, British Isles pearl fishers two hundred,
2:28:28
Speaker 1: local value of pearls three thousand pounds local value of
2:28:32
Speaker 1: shells none. Continent pearl fishers one thousand, local value of
2:28:39
Speaker 1: pearls twenty thousand pounds, local value of shell six hundred pounds.
2:28:44
Speaker 1: Pacific Islands, South Seas pearl fishers four thousand, five hundred
2:28:50
Speaker 1: local value of pearls twenty five thousand pounds local value
2:28:53
Speaker 1: of shell one hundred thousand pounds. Australian Coast pearl fishers
2:28:58
Speaker 1: six thousand, two hundred and fifty local value of pearls
2:29:01
Speaker 1: ninety thousand pounds, local value of shell two hundred and
2:29:05
Speaker 1: forty thousand pounds. Melee Archipelago pearl fishers five thousand. Local
2:29:11
Speaker 1: value of pearls sixty thousand pounds, local value of shell
2:29:14
Speaker 1: one hundred sixty thousand pounds. America, USA Rivers pearl fishers
2:29:20
Speaker 1: eight thousand, five hundred local value of pearls one hundred
2:29:24
Speaker 1: and thirty thousand pounds, local value of shell seventy thousand pounds.
2:29:28
Speaker 1: Venezuela pearl fishers one thousand, nine hundred local value of
2:29:33
Speaker 1: pearls fifty five thousand pounds, local value of shell two
2:29:37
Speaker 1: thousand pounds. Mexico pearl fishers one thousand, two hundred and
2:29:42
Speaker 1: fifty local value of pearls forty two thousand pounds, local
2:29:46
Speaker 1: value of shell forty thousand pounds. Panama pearl fishers four hundred.
2:29:51
Speaker 1: Local value of pearls eight thousand pounds, local value of
2:29:55
Speaker 1: shell fifteen thousand pounds. Various pearl fishers one thousand, local
2:30:01
Speaker 1: value of pearls fifteen thousand pounds, local value of shell
2:30:06
Speaker 1: five thousand pounds. It would be quite impossible to make
2:30:10
Speaker 1: any statement as to the value of pearls, for so
2:30:13
Speaker 1: many details enter into the question. It is primarily judged
2:30:17
Speaker 1: by size or weight, but this may be modified altogether
2:30:20
Speaker 1: by the shape, luster, color, and perfection of the pearl. Generally,
2:30:24
Speaker 1: one or two details of interest may, however, be given.
2:30:27
Speaker 1: In the first place, the value of pearls is reckoned
2:30:29
Speaker 1: not on the weight, but on the square of the weight.
2:30:33
Speaker 1: The pearl grain, which is a fraction of a carrot,
2:30:35
Speaker 1: is the unit, and a base price is the value
2:30:38
Speaker 1: of this unit. What the base price may actually be
2:30:41
Speaker 1: we shall not attempt to estimate. If, however, the base
2:30:44
Speaker 1: value of a one grain pearl is taken as being
2:30:47
Speaker 1: twenty shillings, then the value of a two grain pearl
2:30:50
Speaker 1: would be peren two times two close perenn times twenty
2:30:54
Speaker 1: shillings equals four pounds. A five grain pearl would then
2:30:58
Speaker 1: be worth peren five times five live close per en
2:31:01
Speaker 1: times twenty shillings equals twenty five pounds. Even this method
2:31:05
Speaker 1: does not hold good for very large pearls of perfect luster.
2:31:09
Speaker 1: The carrot and grain both vary in the different countries
2:31:11
Speaker 1: in which they are used. Although a very representative circle
2:31:15
Speaker 1: of pearl merchants is now upholding a metric system carrot
2:31:18
Speaker 1: which equals two hundred milligrams. So far as the value
2:31:23
Speaker 1: of mother of pearl shell is concerned, the following figures
2:31:26
Speaker 1: may be given. The values are, however, always liable to
2:31:29
Speaker 1: much fluctuation, and these figures are not of quite recent date.
2:31:34
Speaker 1: Port Darwin shell, North Australia eight to nine pounds ten
2:31:37
Speaker 1: shillings zero pence per carrot weight, Queensland shell eight to
2:31:43
Speaker 1: eleven pounds per carrot weight, West Australian shell eight to
2:31:46
Speaker 1: nine pounds per carrot weight nineteen ten. Reference has been
2:31:50
Speaker 1: made in the chapter on pearls to the manufacture of
2:31:53
Speaker 1: artificial pearls, as the price of pearls has advanced very much.
2:31:56
Speaker 1: Care and ingenuity has been shown in mounting and altering pearls.
2:31:59
Speaker 1: Whiche defects surfaces may be restored by scratching or roughening.
2:32:04
Speaker 1: Badly colored pearls may be bleached, but this is a
2:32:07
Speaker 1: dangerous method and the pearls soon deteriorate after such treatment.
2:32:11
Speaker 1: Skinning or peeling is a very well known operation. It
2:32:14
Speaker 1: consists in removing the outer layers or laminae from pearls
2:32:18
Speaker 1: which are not quite perfect. This, however, presupposes the presence
2:32:21
Speaker 1: of better layers underneath. The result may be very much
2:32:24
Speaker 1: enhanced value or the reverse skinning requires great care and
2:32:28
Speaker 1: it is performed under the magnifying glass with steel files.
2:32:32
Speaker 1: The drilling of pearls is another delicate operation, although the
2:32:36
Speaker 1: introduction of special apparatus has increased enormously the number that
2:32:39
Speaker 1: can be handled in a given time. Much skill can
2:32:42
Speaker 1: be shown in choosing the point where the whole shall
2:32:44
Speaker 1: be drilled. Small defects can be hidden in this way,
2:32:48
Speaker 1: just as imperfections in shape can be toned down by
2:32:51
Speaker 1: careful mounting. Pearl stringing is another art. Each pearl on
2:32:55
Speaker 1: a string should be secured by knots so that breakage
2:32:58
Speaker 1: of the cord will not be followed by scattering of
2:33:00
Speaker 1: precious gems. The cord used is of the very best silk,
2:33:04
Speaker 1: and re stringing should take place every three to six
2:33:07
Speaker 1: or twelve months, according to the wear that takes place
2:33:11
Speaker 1: only This Christmas nineteen twelve to thirteen, there appeared in
2:33:14
Speaker 1: the press a story of the dyeing of pearls. Many
2:33:18
Speaker 1: similar stories have appeared from time to time, all more
2:33:20
Speaker 1: or less sentimental as however, pearls do not live. They
2:33:24
Speaker 1: cannot die. Moreover, pearls, while treated practically, do not change
2:33:28
Speaker 1: in appearance. As a matter of fact, the gem is
2:33:31
Speaker 1: at its very best when it is first abstracted from
2:33:33
Speaker 1: the shellfish in which it has been formed. Pearls are
2:33:37
Speaker 1: sometimes stained yellow by exudations from the skin, especially if
2:33:40
Speaker 1: the latter is unhealthy. The same staining effect is produced
2:33:43
Speaker 1: by sulfurous or other polluted atmospheres. This change in color
2:33:47
Speaker 1: or luster may sentimentally be described as death, but the
2:33:51
Speaker 1: statement certainly has no real meaning. There seems also to
2:33:55
Speaker 1: be a strange lack of evidence supporting the common belief
2:33:57
Speaker 1: that some individuals can restore the luster of pearls by
2:34:00
Speaker 1: wearing them. There are, of course, various methods of cleaning
2:34:04
Speaker 1: pearls in restoring them, but perhaps it will be advisable
2:34:07
Speaker 1: to refrain from giving them here. Good pearls require careful
2:34:11
Speaker 1: handling and had better be left in the care of specialists.
2:34:14
Speaker 1: This little book would be incomplete if no mention were
2:34:17
Speaker 1: made of some of the famous pearls in the world's history,
2:34:20
Speaker 1: and probably first in this respect must be placed the
2:34:22
Speaker 1: gems worn by Cleopatra. Almost every one has read or
2:34:26
Speaker 1: heard of the wager made by Cleopatra with Mark Antony
2:34:29
Speaker 1: and its sequel. The story is both antique and we
2:34:32
Speaker 1: regret to say absurd. Cleopatra is supposed to have dissolved
2:34:36
Speaker 1: one of the pearls suspended from her ears, a pearl
2:34:40
Speaker 1: the value of which has been estimated at sixty thousand
2:34:42
Speaker 1: pounds in wine, and to have drunk the solution Chemically.
2:34:46
Speaker 1: This is quite impossible, for the organic matter would certainly
2:34:49
Speaker 1: not dissolve, and very little, if any of the unogranic
2:34:52
Speaker 1: would have been affected, even by vinegar in the time.
2:34:56
Speaker 1: She might, of course, have swallowed it as a pill.
2:34:59
Speaker 1: The other pearl its fellow is supposed to have been
2:35:01
Speaker 1: cut in halves and placed in the temple of the Pantheon.
2:35:05
Speaker 1: Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy fourteen thirty three to
2:35:08
Speaker 1: fourteen seventy seven is said to have possessed a very
2:35:11
Speaker 1: large and valuable pearl. The pearls of Mary Stuart are
2:35:14
Speaker 1: also to be reckoned. Amongst the most famous of the time,
2:35:17
Speaker 1: they were said to be the most beautiful in Europe.
2:35:20
Speaker 1: Of course, many of the most precious pearls have not
2:35:22
Speaker 1: been brought to the publicity of the auction room, and
2:35:25
Speaker 1: may still exist in the East. Reference may be made
2:35:29
Speaker 1: here to the wonderful peacock throne built by the same
2:35:31
Speaker 1: Oriental king who raised the taj Mahal. Very many pearls
2:35:35
Speaker 1: were used, amongst which was a choice gem weighing two
2:35:38
Speaker 1: hundred grains. The total value of the jewels is estimated
2:35:41
Speaker 1: at twelve million pounds, but the present value is much less,
2:35:45
Speaker 1: probably somewhere near two million pounds. Perhaps the most costly
2:35:49
Speaker 1: ornament in the world is a shawl or carpet of
2:35:51
Speaker 1: pearls possessed by the Guacar of Baroda. The value of
2:35:56
Speaker 1: this has been put down at over one million pounds.
2:36:00
Speaker 1: The very large and fine pearls often referred to by
2:36:02
Speaker 1: writers too, may be mentioned here. The Hope pearl and
2:36:06
Speaker 1: La Pellegrina, the last named was one of the most
2:36:09
Speaker 1: wonderful pearls in the world. The weight one hundred and
2:36:12
Speaker 1: eleven and one half grains was extraordinary for a perfectly
2:36:15
Speaker 1: spherical pearl of matchless luster. It was owned by a
2:36:18
Speaker 1: Russian and is said to be still in Moscow. Although
2:36:21
Speaker 1: the writer thinks that some doubt exists with regard to
2:36:24
Speaker 1: this the Hope Pearl, belonged to a London banker. It
2:36:28
Speaker 1: is supposed to be the largest pearl known in the
2:36:30
Speaker 1: world and weighs eighteen hundred grains or roughly three ounces.
2:36:34
Speaker 1: It is, however, not spherical, and is more correctly a baroque.
2:36:38
Speaker 1: It was sold at Christie's in eighteen eighty six and
2:36:41
Speaker 1: is now valued at nine thousand pounds. No one who
2:36:44
Speaker 1: has visited and really knows Naples can have failed to
2:36:47
Speaker 1: have seen something of the cameo industry. Cameos are, of
2:36:51
Speaker 1: course not made from pearls, but as long as they
2:36:53
Speaker 1: are carved from mollusk shells and depend upon the layers
2:36:57
Speaker 1: that we have referred to so many times, it will
2:36:59
Speaker 1: not be out of place to mention the industry here.
2:37:02
Speaker 1: The shells used are chiefly univalve coiled shells related to
2:37:06
Speaker 1: our common whelk, but they come usually from tropical seas.
2:37:09
Speaker 1: The chief species employed are Cassis tuberosa line, Casses cornuta line,
2:37:16
Speaker 1: and the kanch cell of the West Indies Strombus gigas line.
2:37:20
Speaker 1: The latter is a very large shell, but is not
2:37:22
Speaker 1: so valuable as the others. Large quantities were in former
2:37:26
Speaker 1: days imported into Liverpool from the Bahamas, but the writer
2:37:29
Speaker 1: can get no evidence of the continuation of this traffic.
2:37:32
Speaker 1: The manufacture of cameos consists in carving away certain of
2:37:36
Speaker 1: the surface layers of the shell. The deeper layers are
2:37:39
Speaker 1: differently colored. Consequently, an engraving results in which the picture
2:37:43
Speaker 1: stands out on a background of another color. In the
2:37:47
Speaker 1: case of the conch shell, the cameo is yellow on
2:37:49
Speaker 1: a beautiful red. The cassis shell gives white on an
2:37:53
Speaker 1: orange or golden background. It may be surprising to most
2:37:56
Speaker 1: readers of this little book to hear that pearl like
2:37:59
Speaker 1: structures cur sometimes in plants. It may be quite incorrect
2:38:02
Speaker 1: to speak of them as pearls, but some of them,
2:38:05
Speaker 1: especially rare specimens from the coconut, are said to resemble
2:38:08
Speaker 1: in color and appearance the real pearls from the sea.
2:38:12
Speaker 1: It appears, however, most difficult to get any conclusive evidence
2:38:15
Speaker 1: about these calcareous concretions. Riedal, according to Professor Korschult, is
2:38:21
Speaker 1: supposed to have found one of these in a cocoanut
2:38:24
Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty six whilst in North Selebs. It was
2:38:28
Speaker 1: pear shaped and twenty eight millimeters long. Harley, who made
2:38:32
Speaker 1: chemical analysis of the real pearls examined. I suppose a
2:38:36
Speaker 1: vegetable pearl that came from Singapore. He was very skeptical, however,
2:38:39
Speaker 1: because it resembled rather closely a pearl from the bi
2:38:42
Speaker 1: valve tridacna, and its composition was very different from the
2:38:46
Speaker 1: constituents of the coconut. Calcium is usually deposited in plants
2:38:50
Speaker 1: as oxalate, although of course numerous calcareous algae are known
2:38:54
Speaker 1: in which calcium carbonate is deposited. End of chapter nine,
2:39:04
Speaker 1: Chapter ten of Pearls by W. J. Dakin. This LibriVox
2:39:09
Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Read by Marianne. Chapter ten.
2:39:14
Speaker 1: The pearl oyster, the trader, the man of science, the
2:39:17
Speaker 1: cultivation of pearl oysters. We have described the pearl, the
2:39:22
Speaker 1: pearl fishery, and the economic and scientific aspects of pearling.
2:39:27
Speaker 1: What should be more natural than a combination of science
2:39:29
Speaker 1: with the pearl industry. Science is now such a force
2:39:32
Speaker 1: in the world that we should expect it to come
2:39:34
Speaker 1: to the aid of the pearl fisher. Before the jeweler
2:39:37
Speaker 1: can mount the valuable gems from mollusks of the sea
2:39:40
Speaker 1: or fresh water, the fisher must supply him with the
2:39:42
Speaker 1: materials for his trade. This means first and foremost, that
2:39:46
Speaker 1: large beds of flourishing, pearl producing shellfish are required. Then
2:39:50
Speaker 1: secondly we require that these molluks shall produce pearls in
2:39:54
Speaker 1: quantity and of good quality. A prolific supply of shellfish
2:39:58
Speaker 1: does not necessarily mean a handso supply of pearls, and
2:40:01
Speaker 1: it has been noted very often in the case of
2:40:03
Speaker 1: the common muscle, that the mollucs from some beds produce
2:40:07
Speaker 1: far more pearls than those from other areas. At the
2:40:10
Speaker 1: same time, without the molluks, there will be no possibility
2:40:13
Speaker 1: of pearls. Evidently, then the first care must be for
2:40:17
Speaker 1: the beds of mollucs. Granted that shellfish of the right
2:40:21
Speaker 1: kind are present in abundance, we might turn our attention
2:40:24
Speaker 1: to artificial improvement of their powers of pearl production. As
2:40:28
Speaker 1: will be seen in the course of this chapter, it
2:40:30
Speaker 1: is still the cultivation of the pearl oyster that requires
2:40:32
Speaker 1: the first aid from science, and certainly, so far as
2:40:35
Speaker 1: ceylon is concerned, we must agree with Herdmann, who has
2:40:39
Speaker 1: regarded the condition and the welfare of natural beds of
2:40:41
Speaker 1: oysters as a more important problem than the question of
2:40:44
Speaker 1: pearl production. It must be confessed that so far science
2:40:49
Speaker 1: has not proved a marked success in its application to
2:40:52
Speaker 1: pearl industries. This, however, is not the fault of science,
2:40:56
Speaker 1: but rather its misfortune, and the latter is, no doubt
2:40:59
Speaker 1: largely due to our treatment of biology. The science concerned
2:41:02
Speaker 1: in this country. Economic biology, is of modern, very modern growth,
2:41:08
Speaker 1: and it has had a severe fight in many places
2:41:10
Speaker 1: for its existence. Pure scientists have for some reason looked
2:41:14
Speaker 1: askance at it, and the non scientific public has not
2:41:17
Speaker 1: seen its possibilities, except perhaps in the one branch of
2:41:21
Speaker 1: economic entomology. The chemist, the engineer, and the architect may
2:41:26
Speaker 1: gain much practical knowledge in our universities, which directly affects
2:41:30
Speaker 1: technical work. There is, on the other hand, a considerable
2:41:34
Speaker 1: difference between the biology of most university courses and the
2:41:37
Speaker 1: biology of the North Sea fisheries or the pearl banks
2:41:40
Speaker 1: of Ceylon. The engineering student is not required or expected
2:41:44
Speaker 1: to build mighty bridges immediately after a university career, but
2:41:48
Speaker 1: the student of biology, without any practical experience, is often
2:41:52
Speaker 1: expected to solve most difficult problems and to alter considerably
2:41:55
Speaker 1: the normal course of nature in a few months. Added
2:41:59
Speaker 1: to this, however, we have the extraordinary fact that, whilst
2:42:02
Speaker 1: engineers are appointed to superintend the construction of government railways,
2:42:07
Speaker 1: architects to design government buildings and so on, apparently any
2:42:10
Speaker 1: one without any previous training may be appointed to take
2:42:13
Speaker 1: care of our fisheries. All this means that in our
2:42:17
Speaker 1: educational work less interest is shown in providing teaching facilities
2:42:21
Speaker 1: which would train the men required. It is certainly rather
2:42:26
Speaker 1: surprising that in the country which set out the Challenger expedition,
2:42:30
Speaker 1: which led the way in deep sea cable laying, and
2:42:33
Speaker 1: which reaps a harvest of many millions a year from
2:42:36
Speaker 1: sea fisheries, there is practically only one university where definite
2:42:40
Speaker 1: oceanographical and fishery courses are held. If they were asked for,
2:42:45
Speaker 1: they could be easily arranged. But under the present conditions
2:42:48
Speaker 1: there have been few posts for scientists trained along these lines,
2:42:51
Speaker 1: and the demand for the training has in consequence been small. Again,
2:42:56
Speaker 1: the number of students who take biology as a subject
2:42:58
Speaker 1: is rather small, because, as a rule, zoological courses are
2:43:02
Speaker 1: attended by students who hope to become teachers in various
2:43:05
Speaker 1: kinds of institutions, or to take museum posts. Since owing
2:43:09
Speaker 1: to mistaken notions or false modesty. Zoology does not occupy
2:43:13
Speaker 1: the place that it should. Inner school curricula educational institutions
2:43:17
Speaker 1: do not require many teachers with the knowledge of this subject.
2:43:20
Speaker 1: The fact remains that, considering the income from successful pearl fisheries,
2:43:25
Speaker 1: there has been really little demand for scientific interference, and
2:43:28
Speaker 1: there have been very few individuals capable of doing such
2:43:31
Speaker 1: work without requiring special training. It is impossible to say
2:43:35
Speaker 1: when man first endeavored to stimulate the pear producing mollusks
2:43:39
Speaker 1: to form pearls or to cover with nacri objects inserted
2:43:42
Speaker 1: inside them. It is attributed by the Chinese to a
2:43:46
Speaker 1: native of how chao Fu who lived in the thirteenth century.
2:43:51
Speaker 1: The rearing or protection of the pearl mollusks is more modern.
2:43:55
Speaker 1: Strangely enough, the commercial success attending the artificial stimulation of
2:43:59
Speaker 1: nack reformation has been greater than that accompanying the efforts
2:44:03
Speaker 1: of mollusks rearing. It seems to be very difficult to
2:44:06
Speaker 1: maintain the natural conditions favorable to growth and breeding, and
2:44:10
Speaker 1: the success which has attended the cultivation of edible oyster
2:44:13
Speaker 1: in parks and other places has been conspicuous by its
2:44:16
Speaker 1: absence from pearl oyster culture. In recent years, Japan has
2:44:21
Speaker 1: advanced very considerably in combining the work of oyster rearing
2:44:25
Speaker 1: with operative work for the artificial stimulation of pearl production.
2:44:29
Speaker 1: The work has been cared for by both the scientist
2:44:31
Speaker 1: and the businessman, and consists in collecting and cultivating the
2:44:35
Speaker 1: pearl oysters of Japanese waters on grounds suitable for them.
2:44:39
Speaker 1: After the shellfish have reached a suitable size, a bead
2:44:42
Speaker 1: of mother of pearl is introduced into the usual place
2:44:45
Speaker 1: between the mantle and the shell. This, in the course
2:44:48
Speaker 1: of time, produces a pearl like body or culture pearl jamison.
2:44:53
Speaker 1: These culture pearls are not, of course real pearls, but
2:44:57
Speaker 1: still the industry is of such extent as to pay
2:44:59
Speaker 1: its way. It is hoped to produce real pearls artificially
2:45:03
Speaker 1: by a modification of the method employed as above. Several
2:45:07
Speaker 1: attempts have been made in Australia to interfere with the
2:45:10
Speaker 1: normal course of events in the pearl oyster industry. The
2:45:13
Speaker 1: late mister Savell Kent, famed for his studies on the
2:45:17
Speaker 1: Great Barrier reef urged strongly the system of cultivation of
2:45:20
Speaker 1: the Australian mother of pearl oyster. He made certain experiments
2:45:25
Speaker 1: in Western Australia which showed that shells could be transplanted
2:45:28
Speaker 1: to very considerable distances from their natural habitat. In nineteen
2:45:32
Speaker 1: o six, Savile Kent formed a company, the Natural Pearl
2:45:35
Speaker 1: Shell Cultivation Company Limited, for the purpose of cultivating the
2:45:38
Speaker 1: mother of pearl oysters in the Torres Straits. Several thousand
2:45:43
Speaker 1: large oysters were laid down in the hope that they
2:45:45
Speaker 1: would provide young spat which would settle on the ground
2:45:47
Speaker 1: and grow up. Nothing seems to have come out of
2:45:50
Speaker 1: this work, and the lease was abandoned in nineteen o
2:45:52
Speaker 1: nine at the time of mister Kent's death. Earlier still
2:45:56
Speaker 1: than this, another company was at work in the Torres Straits.
2:46:00
Speaker 1: This was the Pilot Cultivation Company. Their purpose, according to Jamison,
2:46:04
Speaker 1: who visited the Straits in nineteen hundred, was to transplant
2:46:07
Speaker 1: undersized mother or pearl oysters by ship to an area
2:46:11
Speaker 1: in the Straits. The company laid down over one hundred
2:46:14
Speaker 1: thousand undersized shell and three years afterwards these were fished up.
2:46:18
Speaker 1: Many thousands appear to have died, but about thirty five
2:46:21
Speaker 1: thousand were taken up, and it is probable that they
2:46:23
Speaker 1: realized a considerable sum. It is only too probable that
2:46:27
Speaker 1: this was overshadowed by the expenses of transporting and collecting
2:46:30
Speaker 1: the shell and experimentation so that the young spat would
2:46:34
Speaker 1: be saved and could be cultivated. So far, practically no
2:46:38
Speaker 1: signs of any successive economic value seem ever to have
2:46:41
Speaker 1: been in sight. The nearest approach to success was the
2:46:45
Speaker 1: attempt of mister Haynes. Afterwards, the work of a syndicate,
2:46:49
Speaker 1: the Montebello Shell Syndicate Limited. At the Montebello Islands, a
2:46:53
Speaker 1: tidal pond of considerable extent was made and several hundred
2:46:56
Speaker 1: oysters were laid down as breeding stock. Young oyster did appear,
2:47:01
Speaker 1: but Jamison considers them not to have been the young
2:47:03
Speaker 1: of the breeding stock, but to have been immigrants from
2:47:06
Speaker 1: the see of another species. Eventually these also disappeared. So far,
2:47:11
Speaker 1: therefore nothing but expense has resulted from this effort. There
2:47:15
Speaker 1: is no doubt whatever as Jamison states that the Government
2:47:18
Speaker 1: of Australia should very seriously consider this pearl oyster industry.
2:47:22
Speaker 1: It can only be improved by a thorough and detailed
2:47:25
Speaker 1: investigation by qualified scientists and pearl shellers. Finally, a glance
2:47:30
Speaker 1: at the scientific inquiry into the Ceylon pearl fishery. The
2:47:33
Speaker 1: results which followed, and the advice tender to the government,
2:47:35
Speaker 1: may give the readers of this little work some idea
2:47:38
Speaker 1: of the problems which have to be faced. It was
2:47:41
Speaker 1: in the year nineteen hundred that the Government of Ceylon,
2:47:44
Speaker 1: after a period of ten barren years, began to consider
2:47:47
Speaker 1: whether it might not be possible to prevent the recurrence
2:47:49
Speaker 1: of such periods. Professor W. A. Herdman, FRS was selected,
2:47:54
Speaker 1: on the advice of the Council of the Royal Society
2:47:57
Speaker 1: and of Sir Lancaster, then Director of the British Museum,
2:48:01
Speaker 1: for the purpose of conducting a thorough investigation of the
2:48:03
Speaker 1: pearl banks. He took with him as an assistant, mister
2:48:07
Speaker 1: James Hornell, and left England at the end of nineteen
2:48:09
Speaker 1: o one for a visit to the Gulf of Manar.
2:48:12
Speaker 1: During the three months of Herdsman's sojourn at the island,
2:48:15
Speaker 1: cruises were made on a steamer fitted for the investigation,
2:48:19
Speaker 1: and all the principal pearl banks were examined. Dredging, trawling
2:48:22
Speaker 1: and diving were carried out, and the biologists also took
2:48:25
Speaker 1: part in the annual Government inspection of the Pearl banks.
2:48:29
Speaker 1: As a result of this expedition, the conditions of the
2:48:31
Speaker 1: perobanks was made known in great detail. Collections were made
2:48:35
Speaker 1: of the animals and plants living along with the pearl oysters.
2:48:39
Speaker 1: Some of these are merely passive neighbors, others are active
2:48:42
Speaker 1: enemies or competitors for food. It was necessary to determine
2:48:46
Speaker 1: what factors influenced the pearl oysters in their growth in order,
2:48:49
Speaker 1: if possible, to arrive at the causes of failure of fisheries.
2:48:53
Speaker 1: Herdman's report contains a mine of information, and we must
2:48:57
Speaker 1: say that the work which the expedition was sent to
2:48:59
Speaker 1: accomplisus was carried out thoroughly and successfully. After Herdman returned
2:49:04
Speaker 1: to England, where now remained at Ceylon to continue the work,
2:49:07
Speaker 1: and was later nineteen o four appointed marine biologists to
2:49:10
Speaker 1: the government. There is no need to give more than
2:49:13
Speaker 1: a brief summary of the chief points of Herdman's conclusions
2:49:16
Speaker 1: from his preliminary report nineteen o two to the Government
2:49:19
Speaker 1: of Ceylon. They are as follows. One the oysters we
2:49:24
Speaker 1: met with seemed on the whole to be very healthy.
2:49:26
Speaker 1: Two there is no evidence of much disease of any kind. Three.
2:49:31
Speaker 1: A considerable number of parasites, both external and internal, both
2:49:35
Speaker 1: protozoan and vermion were met with, but that is not
2:49:39
Speaker 1: unusual in mollusks, and we do not regard it as
2:49:41
Speaker 1: affecting seriously the oyster population. Four. Many of the larger
2:49:46
Speaker 1: oysters were reproducing actively. Five we found large quantities of
2:49:50
Speaker 1: minute spat in several places. Six We also found enormous
2:49:55
Speaker 1: quantities of young oysters a few months old on many
2:49:58
Speaker 1: of the pars. On the Perea par The number of
2:50:02
Speaker 1: these probably amounts to over a hundred thousand millions. Seven.
2:50:07
Speaker 1: A very large number of these young oysters never arrive
2:50:09
Speaker 1: at maturity. There are several causes for this. Eight. They
2:50:13
Speaker 1: may have natural enemies, some of which we have determined. Nine.
2:50:17
Speaker 1: Some are smothered in sand. Ten Some grounds are much
2:50:21
Speaker 1: more suitable than others for feeding the young oysters, and
2:50:24
Speaker 1: so conducing to life and growth. Eleven. Probably the majority
2:50:29
Speaker 1: are killed by overcrowding. Twelve. They should therefore be thinned
2:50:33
Speaker 1: out and transplanted. Thirteen. This can easily and speedily be
2:50:37
Speaker 1: done on a large scale by dredging from a steamer
2:50:40
Speaker 1: at the proper time of year when the young oysters
2:50:43
Speaker 1: are at the best age for transplanting. Fourteen. Finally, there
2:50:48
Speaker 1: is no reason for any despondency in regard to the
2:50:50
Speaker 1: future of the pearl oyster fisheries if they are treated scientifically.
2:50:55
Speaker 1: The adult oysters are plentiful on some of the pars
2:50:57
Speaker 1: and seen for the most part healthy and vigorous, while
2:51:00
Speaker 1: young oysters in their first year and masses of minute
2:51:03
Speaker 1: spat just deposited are very abundant in many places. To
2:51:07
Speaker 1: the biologist. Two dangers are, however, evident and paradoxical as
2:51:11
Speaker 1: it may seem. These are overcrowding and overfishing. But the
2:51:16
Speaker 1: superabundance and the risk of depletion are at the opposite
2:51:19
Speaker 1: ends of the life cycle, and therefore both are possible
2:51:22
Speaker 1: at once on the same ground, and either as sufficient
2:51:24
Speaker 1: to cause locally and temporarily a failure of the pearl
2:51:27
Speaker 1: oyster fishery. What is required to obviate these two dangers
2:51:31
Speaker 1: ahead and ensure more constancy in the fisheries is careful
2:51:34
Speaker 1: supervision of the banks by some one who has had
2:51:36
Speaker 1: sufficient biological training to understand the life problems of the
2:51:39
Speaker 1: animal and who will therefore know when to carry out
2:51:43
Speaker 1: simple measures of farming such as thinning and transplanting, and
2:51:46
Speaker 1: when to advise as two regulations of the Fisheries signed W. A. Herdman.
2:51:54
Speaker 1: In Hertmann's further Report of nineteen o four, certain recommendations
2:51:57
Speaker 1: were made to the government as a result of his inquiry.
2:52:00
Speaker 1: He suggested that the dread should be used more frequently
2:52:03
Speaker 1: to supplement diving for oysters, and that more attention should
2:52:06
Speaker 1: be paid to inspecting other regions of the Pearl Bank
2:52:09
Speaker 1: plateau than the known pars. Furthermore, that all young oysters
2:52:13
Speaker 1: appearing on certain pars where they never reach maturity should
2:52:17
Speaker 1: be transplanted to more favorable grounds. Another important point was
2:52:21
Speaker 1: that an attempt should be made to increase the area
2:52:23
Speaker 1: available for attachment and growth of young pearl oysters by
2:52:26
Speaker 1: artificially clutching, that is to say, scattering dead coral rocks
2:52:31
Speaker 1: or rubble on the sandy bottom adjoining the more important pars.
2:52:35
Speaker 1: The following agents were recognized as causing widespread death of
2:52:38
Speaker 1: the pearl oysters. One shifting sand due to strong currents.
2:52:43
Speaker 1: Two voracious fishes, chiefly rays and file fishes. Three invertebrate
2:52:49
Speaker 1: animals such as boring shellfish, boring sponges, starfishes and these
2:52:53
Speaker 1: smothering mollusk modiola. At the time of this scientific investigation,
2:53:00
Speaker 1: it was seen that certain banks were covered with pearl
2:53:02
Speaker 1: oysters and there was a prospect if all went well
2:53:05
Speaker 1: of a fishery. In nineteen oh three, the fishery came
2:53:07
Speaker 1: off well and was the first for twelve years. The
2:53:10
Speaker 1: revenue netted by the government was over fifty five thousand pounds.
2:53:14
Speaker 1: The following years nineteen o four and nineteen oh five
2:53:16
Speaker 1: were still greater successes and record fisheries took place, giving
2:53:20
Speaker 1: seventy one thousand, one hundred and fifty pounds and over
2:53:23
Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty seven thousand pounds respectively. Such was
2:53:27
Speaker 1: the position when in nineteen oh six a company was
2:53:29
Speaker 1: formed and the Ceylon pearl fisheries were released for a
2:53:32
Speaker 1: period of twenty years at an annual rental of three
2:53:35
Speaker 1: hundred and ten thousand rubies. In addition to this, however,
2:53:39
Speaker 1: the company had to undertake to spend from fifty thousand
2:53:41
Speaker 1: to one hundred and fifty thousand rubies annually on the
2:53:44
Speaker 1: experimental or practical culture of the pearl oyster and on
2:53:48
Speaker 1: the improvement of the pearl banks within the conceded area,
2:53:51
Speaker 1: and the maintenance thereon of a proper breeding stock, or
2:53:53
Speaker 1: otherwise in the improvement and development of the fishery. Now
2:53:57
Speaker 1: it must be noted here that science never advocated the
2:54:00
Speaker 1: formation of such a company with the fundamental mistake of
2:54:02
Speaker 1: having to pay such heavy charges. The company had, in
2:54:06
Speaker 1: fact agreed to pay the government a rent which was
2:54:08
Speaker 1: about three times the average annual revenue. This might have
2:54:12
Speaker 1: been reasonable if the fisheries of nineteen oh four and
2:54:14
Speaker 1: nineteen o five had been certain to be continued, but
2:54:17
Speaker 1: there was no evidence that Herdman's recommendations had been carried
2:54:19
Speaker 1: out to such an extent as to warrant this belief,
2:54:23
Speaker 1: Nor could it ever have been expected that the scientific
2:54:25
Speaker 1: recommendations implied for the future in entire absence of barren years.
2:54:30
Speaker 1: The Sealeon Company of Pearl Fishers Limited entered, therefore upon
2:54:33
Speaker 1: a highly speculative concern, although it is quite possible that
2:54:37
Speaker 1: they expected science to pull them through. They were successful
2:54:40
Speaker 1: in the fishery of nineteen oh six, and another fishery
2:54:42
Speaker 1: followed in nineteen oh seven. Thus the first years of
2:54:45
Speaker 1: the company were marked by such handsome returns that a
2:54:48
Speaker 1: very good dividend was paid within the first few months
2:54:50
Speaker 1: of the company's existence. In fact, about fifty thousand pounds
2:54:54
Speaker 1: was paid in dividends during the first two years on
2:54:56
Speaker 1: an issued capital of ninety thousand pounds In nineteen o seven. However,
2:55:01
Speaker 1: there have been no fisheries and the company has paid
2:55:03
Speaker 1: rent to the government until lack of any prospects of
2:55:07
Speaker 1: a fishery resulted in a re arrangement of terms and
2:55:09
Speaker 1: the termination of the lease in April nineteen twelve. Statements
2:55:13
Speaker 1: have been made that the company followed absolutely the advice
2:55:16
Speaker 1: and recommendations of the scientific advisers, but it seems quite
2:55:19
Speaker 1: doubtful how far from a scientific point of view this
2:55:22
Speaker 1: was the case. The recommendations were apparently not carried out
2:55:26
Speaker 1: to anything like an adequate extent, and sufficient adult pearl
2:55:29
Speaker 1: oysters to form a breeding reserve were not left at
2:55:31
Speaker 1: the end of the last fishery. So far as I
2:55:34
Speaker 1: am aware, the points put forward by Herdman in his
2:55:37
Speaker 1: report are not in the least disputed, notwithstanding the years
2:55:40
Speaker 1: of observation since nineteen o two. Possibly the part played
2:55:44
Speaker 1: by voracious fishes in devastating the oysters was underestimated, but
2:55:48
Speaker 1: still Herdmann recognized them as being one of the most
2:55:51
Speaker 1: serious enemies of the pearl oyster. He laid great emphasis
2:55:55
Speaker 1: also on the danger of overfishing, which seems to have
2:55:58
Speaker 1: been sometimes carried on. There is absolutely no doubt that
2:56:02
Speaker 1: this commercial failure is not attributable to biological science, and
2:56:05
Speaker 1: Herdman himself did not advise the formation of the company.
2:56:10
Speaker 1: It seems to the writer that the criticism that the
2:56:12
Speaker 1: scientific advisors should have devoted more time to the study
2:56:15
Speaker 1: of the mechanism of pearl formation is quite unfair. What
2:56:19
Speaker 1: was required from them was a study of the pearl
2:56:21
Speaker 1: oyster and the condition of the pearl banks. Without the oysters,
2:56:25
Speaker 1: it is obviously quite impossible to get pearls at all.
2:56:29
Speaker 1: Commercial pearl fishing still remains a great speculation. It will
2:56:33
Speaker 1: require further, very careful study, and much more experiment, undertaken
2:56:37
Speaker 1: in accord with scientific advice, before nature is reined in
2:56:40
Speaker 1: or guided along paths suitable to men's industries. End of
2:56:45
Speaker 1: chapter ten an end of Pearls by W. J. Daykin,
2:56:50
Speaker 1: recorded by Marianne Spiegel in Chicago, Illinois, July two thousand
2:56:53
Speaker 1: and fifteen. Thank you for listening,