Those round calcareous[757] excrescences found both in the bodies
and shells, especially on the nacreous coat, of several kinds of
shell-fish[758], have been much used as ornaments since the earliest
ages[759]. The beautiful play of colours exhibited on their surface has
raised them to a high value[760]; and this they have always retained on
account of their scarcity and the expense arising from the laborious
manner in which they are collected[761]. By the increase of luxury
among the European nations, the use of pearls has become more common;
and even in Pliny’s time they were worn by the wives of the inferior
public officers, in order that they might vie in the costliness of
their dress with ladies of the first rank. It is probable, therefore,
that methods were early invented to occasion or hasten the formation
of pearls; and as at present those who cannot afford to purchase gold,
jewels, and porcelain, use in their stead pinchbeck, artificial gems,
and stone-ware, so methods were fallen upon to make artificial pearls.
The art of forcing shell-fish to produce pearls was known, in the first
centuries of the christian æra to the inhabitants of the coasts of the
Red-sea, as we are told by the philosopher Apollonius, who thought that
circumstance worthy of particular notice. The Indians dived into the
sea, after they had rendered it calm and more transparent by pouring
oil into it. They then enticed the fish by means of some bait to open
their shells; and having pricked them with a sharp pointed instrument,
received the liquor that flowed from them in small holes made in an
iron vessel, in which they hardened into real pearls[762]. Olearius
says that this account is to be found in no other author: but it has at
least been copied by Tzetzes[763].
We are as yet too little acquainted with shell-fish to be able to
determine with certainty how much truth there really may be in this
relation: but there is great reason to conjecture from it that the
people who lived on the borders of the Red-sea were then acquainted
with a method of forcing shell-fish to produce pearls; and as the arts
in general of the ancient Indians have been preserved without much
variation, the process employed by the Chinese at present, to cause a
certain kind of mussels to form pearls, seems to confirm the account
given by Philostratus. In the beginning of summer, at the time when the
mussels repair to the surface of the water and open their shells, five
or six small beads, made of mother-of-pearl, and strung on a thread,
are thrown into each of them. At the end of a year, when the mussels
are drawn up and opened, the beads are found covered with a pearly
crust, in such a manner that they have a perfect resemblance to real
pearls. The truth of this information cannot be doubted, though some
experiments made in Bohemia for the same purpose were not attended
with success[764]. It has been confirmed by various persons[765], and
it is very probable that some operations and secrets, without which
the process would prove fruitless even in China, may be unknown to
the Europeans. Besides, many observations are known which seem to
show the possibility of such an effect being produced. Fabricius says
that he saw in the possession of Sir Joseph Banks, at London, large
_Chamæ_[766], brought from China, in which there were several bits of
iron wire, incrusted with a substance of a perfect pearly nature[767].
These bits of wire, he said, had been sharp, and it appeared as if
the mussels, to secure themselves against the points of the wire,
had covered them with this substance, by which means they had been
rendered blunt. May not therefore the process employed by the ancients
be still practised? And may not these bits of wire have been the same
as those spikes used by the people in the neighbourhood of the Red-sea
for pricking mussels, and which perhaps slipped from the hands of the
Chinese workmen and remained in the animals?
The invention therefore of Linnæus cannot be called altogether new.
That great man informed the king and council in the year 1761, that
he had discovered an art by which mussels might be made to produce
pearls, and he offered to disclose the method for the benefit of the
kingdom. This however was not done, but he disposed of his secret to
one Bagge, a merchant at Gottenburg, for the sum of eighteen thousand
copper dollars, which make about five hundred ducats. In the year 1780,
the heirs of this merchant wished to sell to the highest bidder the
sealed-up receipt[768]: but whether the paper was purchased, or who
bought it, I do not know; for Professor Retzius at Lund, of whom I
inquired respecting it, could not inform me[769]. In the year 1763, it
was said in the German newspapers, that Linnæus was ennobled on account
of this discovery, and that he bore a pearl in his coat of arms; but
both these assertions are false, though Fabricius conjectures that the
first may be true[770]. Linnæus received his patent of nobility, which,
together with his arms, I have seen, in the year 1756, consequently
long before he said anything respecting that discovery, of which the
patent does not make the least mention. What in his arms has been taken
for a pearl, is an egg, by which M. Tilas, whose business it then
was to blazon the arms of ennobled families, meant to represent all
nature, after the manner of the ancient Egyptians. The arms are divided
into three fields, each of which, by the colour forming the ground,
expresses one of the kingdoms of nature; the red signifying the animal,
and the green the vegetable, &c. Over the helmet, by way of crest,
is placed the _Linnæa_[771]; that beautiful little moth the _Phalæna
linneella_, shining with its silvery colours, is displayed around the
border instead of festoons; and below is the following motto, _Famam
extendere factis_. Linnæus once showed me, among his collection of
shells, a small box filled with pearl, and said, “Hos uniones confeci
artificio meo; sunt tantum quinque annorum, et tamen tam magni.” “These
pearls I made by my art, and though so large they are only five years
old.” They were deposited near the _Unio margaritifera_, from which
most of the Swedish pearls are procured; and the son, who was however
not acquainted with his father’s secret, said the experiments were made
only on this kind of mussel, though Linnæus himself assured me that
they would succeed on all kinds.
I conjecture that Linnæus alluded to this art in his writings so
early as the year 1746, or long before he ever thought of keeping it
a secret. The passage I mean is in the sixth edition of his Systema
Naturæ, where he says, “Margarita. Testæ excrescentia latere interiore,
dum exterius latus perforatur[772].” I once told him that I had
discovered his secret in his own works; but he seemed to be displeased,
did not inquire after the passage, and changed the discourse. That
pearls are produced when the shells have been pierced or injured in
a certain manner, is highly probable, and has been in modern times
often remarked[773]. It appears also, that the animal has the power
of sometimes filling up such openings with a calcareous substance,
which it deposits in them. This substance assumes the figure of the
orifice, and the animal particles it contains give it its brightness
and lustre[774]. Pearl-fishers have long known that mussels, the shells
of which are rough and irregular, or which exhibit marks of violence,
commonly contain pearls, though they are found also in others in which
the same appearances are not observed[775]. I am perfectly aware that
some experiments made by piercing the shells of mussels, have been
unsuccessful[776]; but this does not prove that it is impossible to
procure pearls in that manner. Those who made them did not perhaps
pierce the proper part of the shell; perhaps they made the orifice
so large that it weakened the animal; and they may not have chosen
the fittest season of the year. The strongest objection however which
can be made on this subject, is the undeniable truth that the proper
valuable pearls are not found adhering to the shell, but in the body
only; and that therefore those calcareous balls which fill up holes,
cannot be perfect pearls. But from the words of Linnæus above-quoted,
I am led to conjecture, that he only made a hole in the shell without
piercing it quite through. Linnæus also may have done some injury
to the animal itself when it opened its shell; for it is certain
that testaceous animals are strong-lived, and can easily sustain any
violence. It appears by the Transactions of the Swedish Academy, that
some have been of opinion that shell-fish might be made to produce
pearls by a particular kind of nourishment; and Lister[777] thinks that
these excrescences would be more abundant, were the mussels placed in
water impregnated with calcareous matter; but Professor Linnæus seems
certain that his father employed none of these methods.
Under the name of false or artificial pearls are understood at present
small beads, so prepared by art as to approach very near to real pearls
in shape, lustre, colour, and polish. It appears that in Pliny’s time
such were not known, else he certainly would have mentioned them. The
invention was not easy, and this difficulty to imitate pearls has
contributed, with the reasons before mentioned, to keep up their value.
It would seem that at first, hopes were entertained of finding a method
to make large pearls from small or broken ones. Tzetzes speaks of this
imagined art, and receipts for that purpose have been still retained
in various books, where they fill up room and amuse the ignorant; for
it is hardly possible to give to the pulverised calcareous matter
sufficient hardness, and that lustre which belongs only to the surface
of real pearls, and which, when these are destroyed, is irrecoverably
lost. More ingenious was the idea of making pearl-coloured glass beads
of that kind called _margaritini_[778]; but it excites no wonder that
this was not done earlier, although the art of making coloured glass
is very old; for opal colours are obtained only by a skilful process
and the addition of putty, bone-ashes, and other substances. Still
earlier was the invention of making hollow glass beads, which were
incrusted on the inside with a pearl-coloured varnish. This method was
first pursued, as far as I have been able to learn, by some artists
at Murano; but their invention seems to have been considered by the
government as too fraudulent, and was therefore prohibited, as we
are told by Francis Massarius, who lived in the beginning of the
sixteenth century at Venice, and must therefore have had an opportunity
of knowing the truth of this circumstance[779]. Some say that an
amalgam of quicksilver was used for these pearls; and if that was the
case, the object of the Venetian prohibition was rather of a medical
nature. After this, small balls of wax or gum were covered with a
pearl-coloured enamel. These were praised on account of their lustre;
but as their beauty was destroyed by moisture, they did not continue
long in use[780]. A French bead-maker, however, named Jaquin, at length
found out the manner of preparing the glass pearls used at present,
which excel all others, and which approach as near to nature as
possible, without being too expensive.
Jaquin once observed, at his estate near Passy, that when those small
fish called _ables_ or _ablettes_ were washed, the water was filled
with fine silver-coloured particles. He suffered this water therefore
to stand for some time, and obtained from it a sediment which had the
lustre of the most beautiful pearls; and which on that account led him
to the attempt of making pearls from it[781]. He scraped off the scales
of the fish, and called the soft shining powder, which was diffused in
the water, essence of pearl, or _essence d’orient_[782]. At first he
covered with it small beads made of gypsum, or hardened paste; and, as
everything new, particularly in France, is eagerly sought after, this
invention was greatly admired and commended. The ladies, however, for
whose use it was chiefly intended, soon found that it did not entirely
answer their expectations. They were displeased because this pearly
coat, when exposed to heat, separated from the beads, adhered to the
skin, and gave it a brightness which they did not wish. They proposed
themselves, that small hollow glass beads might be covered, in the
inside, in the same manner as mirrors are silvered, with the essence of
pearl; and thus was brought to perfection an art of which the following
account will enable the reader to form some idea.
Of a kind of glass easy to be melted, and made sometimes a little
bluish or dark, slender tubes are prepared, which are called
_girasols_[783]. From these the artist blows, by means of a lamp, as
many small hollow globules as he may have occasion for. One workman can
in a day blow six thousand; but when they are required to be extremely
beautiful, only twelve or fifteen hundred; and that they may have a
greater resemblance to nature, he gives them sometimes blemishes, like
those generally observed in real pearls. They are made on all figures;
some shaped like a pear, others like an olive, and some that may be
considered as _coques de perles_[784]. To overlie these thin glass
bubbles he mixes the pearl essence with a solution of isinglass; and
the more of the former he uses, the more beautiful and more valuable
the pearls become. This varnish, when heated, he blows into each
globule with a fine glass pipe, and spreads it over the whole internal
surface, by shaking the pearls thus prepared in a vessel placed over
the table where he is at work, and which he puts in motion by his foot,
until the varnish is equally diffused all over the inside of them,
and becomes dry. Sometimes he adds to the essence some red, yellow,
or blue colour; but as this is a deviation from nature, it is not
accounted a beauty. To give these tender globules more solidity and
strength, they are filled with white wax. They are then bored through
with a needle, and threaded in strings for sale. The holes in the finer
sort, however, are first lined with thin paper, that the thread may not
adhere to the wax[785].
The name _able_, or _ablette_, is given to several species of fish;
but that which produces the pearl-essence is the _Cyprinus alburnus_,
called in English the bleak. Professor Hermann, at Strasburg, was so
kind as to send me one of these fish, which was caught there for the
purpose of making pearl-essence, and which was dried so carefully that
the species could with certainty be distinguished. It corresponded
exactly with the figure given in Duhamel[786], which has almost a
perfect resemblance to that given by Schoneveld[787]. May not the
_alburnus_ mentioned by Ausonius among the inhabitants of the Moselle,
be the same? At any rate, the bleak is to be found only in fresh water;
and on account of its voracity bites readily at the hook. It is caught
for the use of the French manufacturers in the Seine, the Loire, the
Saone, the Rhine[788], and several other rivers. To obtain a pound of
scales above 4000 fish are necessary; and these do not produce four
ounces of pearl essence; so that from eighteen to twenty thousand are
requisite to have a pound of it. In the Chalonnois, the fishermen get
for a pound of washed scales fifteen, eighteen, and twenty-five livres.
The fish, which are four inches in length, and which have not a very
good taste, are sold at a cheap rate, after their scales have been
scraped off. At St. John de Maizel, or Mezel, in the Chalonnois, there
was a manufactory in which 10,000 pearls were made daily[789].
The first makers of these pearls must have laboured under a very great
inconvenience, as they were acquainted with no method of preserving
the fishy particles for any time. They were obliged to use the essence
immediately, because it soon putrefied and contracted an intolerable
stench. The great consumption, however, required that the scales should
be brought from distant provinces. Attempts were made to preserve them
in spirit of wine or brandy; but these liquors destroyed their lustre,
and left them only a dull white colour. In the like manner brandy
spoiled a real pearl, which, with the animal and the shell (_Mactra
lutraria_), was sent to me by Dr. Taube, at Zell. It was therefore a
very important discovery for this art that these animal particles can
be kept for a long time in solution of ammonia, which is now alone
used, and which perhaps could be used for many other purposes of the
like kind.
That the inventor of these pearls was called Jaquin, and that he was a
bead-maker at Paris, all agree; but the time of the invention seems to
be uncertain. Some say that it belongs to the reign of Henry IV.[790];
and Reaumur mentions the year 1656. These pearls, however, in the year
1686, when Jaquin had an assistant named Breton, must not have been
very common; for we are told in the Mercure Galant of that year, that
a marquis possessed of very little property, who was enamoured of a
lady, gained her affections and carried his point by presenting her
with a string of them, which cost only three louis; and which she,
considering them as real ones, valued at 2000 francs. The servant
who put the marquis on this stratagem, declared that these pearls
withstood heat and the moisture occasioned by perspiration; that they
were not easily scratched, had almost the same weight as real ones, and
that the person who sold them warranted their durability in writing.
Jewellers and pawnbrokers have, therefore, been often deceived by them.
Jaquin’s heirs continued this business down to a late period, and had a
considerable manufactory au Rue de Petit Lion at Paris.