The pearl was esteemed as the emblem of purity, innocence and peace, and was sacred to the Moon and Diana. For this reason in ancient times it was worn by young girls and virgins on whom the protection of “chaste Diana” was invoked. Generally as an emblem of chastity the pearl was worn on the neck. As a cure for irritability it was ground to a fine powder and a quantity, seldom more than a grain, was drunk in new milk. In doses of the same quantity mixed with sugar it was recommended to be taken as a charm against the pestilence.
The Hindus included the pearl amongst the five precious stones in the magical necklace of Vishnu, the other four being the diamond, ruby, emerald, and sapphire.
The golden pearl was the emblem of wealth, the white of idealism, the black of philosophy, the pink of beauty, the red of health and energy, the grey of thought. Lustreless pearls are considered unfortunate, as also are pearls that have lost their sheen when on a dying person’s finger, as sometimes happens. It is curious how pearls improve in lustre when worn by some persons and how they deteriorate when worn by others. A recent writer commenting on this advised that if “pearls turned colour temporarily when worn by certain persons they should be put away for a few days and the detrimental effects of constitutional acids will be found to have entirely disappeared.” To an extent this is correct, but it is equally certain that if the person by whom the pearls were affected were to continue wearing them they would be destroyed altogether. This is quite in accord with the occult philosophy of the ancient masters who held that only people who had favourable planets in Cancer—the Celestial sign of the Ocean—or in whose nativities the lunar aspects were favourable could wear pearls. The Moon, however, in the sign Capricorn was not considered favourable for wearing pearls, and some writers also include the sign Scorpio. A half-moon shaped whitish stone of about 25 lbs. weight was oftentimes used by the Ceylonese pearl divers, tied around their waists, when making the plunge for the pearl oyster, and the crew of 20—a lunar number—which made up the Ceylon pearling boat company may have traditional authority, and may be something more than mere coincidence.
The Princess of Yemen, previously mentioned, wore seven strands of pearls. Seven is the positive number of the Moon or the Moon’s number when going from new to full. This was recognized by ancient nations and it may be well assumed that the symbolic meaning was understood by the advisers to the Princess.
A custom exists in Madagascar which finds a parallel amongst the ancients: it is believed that if at an afflicted birth pearls be buried good will come to the child and will continue to come unless the pearls be unearthed.
The Pearl was sacred to the angel Gabriel and Monday was its special day of the week, the Moon was its planet and the zodiacal Cancer its sign. To dream of pearls is considered a favourable omen, being held to indicate wealth and honour gained by personal exertion. To the poor the pearl denotes riches. It is the symbol of happy marriage and popularity. That pearls are unfortunate is as untrue as that opals or any other gems are. That they are unfavourable to some is as true as that they are favourable to others, but prejudice being narrow and self-centred is hard to kill. A young lady of good family actually told the author that she would never wear pearls because she was unfortunate whenever she wore her necklace. Upon examining this terrible necklace the author saw that the alleged pearls were merely imitation! As imitation pearls scarcely come within the province of this book it may be sufficient to mention that in the year 1748 Linnaeus wrote to Dr. Haller, the physiologist, telling him that he had ascertained how pearls grow in shells. “I am able to produce in any mother of pearl shell that can be held in the hand, in the course of 4 or 5 years, a pearl as large as the seed of a common vetch.” This discovery by the great naturalist was regarded as of such importance by the Swedish Government that they ennobled Linnaeus, rewarded him with a gift of £450, and began to manufacture pearls under his direction with great secrecy. Linnaeus’ method had long been anticipated by the Chinese who used to throw pieces of mother of pearl, grit, etc., into the live oyster. It is said that in a year the coating over a piece of mother of pearl would be sufficient. Of late years the Japanese have acted on these practices with considerable skill, producing by mechanical means some beautiful specimens. Still, beautiful as they are, they are not real pearls.
A good deal of pearl “faking” is practised, and a short time ago a pearl broker in Paris was sentenced to imprisonment for tampering with the colour of a pearl. But whenever chemical means are employed in tinting a pearl the false colours invariably fade and leave the specimen worse off than before, more especially if a lady with a “good pearl skin” wears it.
In his book on “Malay Magic,” Mr. W. W. Satek gives the following interesting account of Cocoa Nut Pearls, quoting from Dr. Deny’s “Descriptive Dictionary of British Malaya,” with acknowledgments to “Nature”:—
“During my recent travels,” Dr. Sidney Hickson writes to a scientific contemporary, “I was frequently asked by Dutch planters and others if I had ever seen a ‘cocoanut stone.’ These stones are said to be rarely found (one in two thousand or more) in the perisperm of the cocoanut, and when found are kept by the natives as a charm against disease and evil spirits. This story of the cocoanut stone was so constantly told me, and in every case without variations in its details, that I made every effort before leaving to obtain some specimens and eventually succeeded in obtaining two. One of these is nearly a perfect sphere, 14 mm. in diameter, and the other, rather smaller in size, is irregularly pear-shaped. In both specimens the surface is worn nearly smooth by friction. The spherical one I have had cut into two halves but I can find no concentric or other markings on the polished cut surface. Dr. Kimmins has kindly submitted a half to a careful chemical analysis and finds that it consists of pure carbonate of lime without any trace of other salts or vegetable tissue.” On this letter Mr. Thistleton Dyer remarks:—
“Dr. Hickson’s account of the calcareous concretions occasionally found in the central hollow—filled with fluid—of the endosperm of the seed of the cocoanut is extremely interesting. The circumstances of the occurrence of these stones or pearls are in many respects parallel to those which attend the formation of tabasheer. In both cases mineral matter in palpable masses is withdrawn from solution in considerable volumes of flint contained in tolerably large cavities in living plants and in both instances they are monocotyledons. In the case of cocoanut pearls the material is calcium carbonate and this is well known to concrete in a peculiar manner from solutions in which organic matter is also present. In my note on Tabasheer I referred to the reported occurrence of mineral concretions in the wood of various tropical dicotyledonous trees. Tabasheer is too well known to be pooh-poohed, but some of my scientific friends express a polite incredulity in the other cases.” The specimen presented by Mr. Skeat to the Cambridge Ethnological Museum is encircled by a black ring which is caused, it is said, by its adherence to the shell of the cocoanut. These cocoanut pearls are of much interest and may perhaps be included amongst the mineral curiosities which comprehend tabasheer, apatite, etc. Ancient philosophy would probably associate them with the sign Cancer as is the case with pearls found in seas and rivers. Swedenborg writes that pearls are Truth and the knowledge of Truth, celestial and spiritual knowledge, faith and charity.