Читать книгу The Book of the Pearl. The history, art, science, and industry of the queen of gems онлайн

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Many theories have been advanced to explain the coloration of pearls. When the old idea of dew formation prevailed, it was considered that white pearls were formed in fair weather, and the dark ones when the weather was cloudy. It was further considered that the color was influenced by the depth of the water in which they grew: that in deep water they were white, but where it was so shallow that the sunlight easily penetrated, the pearls were more likely to be dark in color. Tavernier curiously explained that the black pearls of Panama and Mexico owed their color to the black mud in which the pearl-oysters of those localities lived, and that Persian Gulf pearls were more inclined to yellow than those of Ceylon, owing to the greater putrefaction of the flesh before they were removed therefrom.^[77] Two centuries ago the color of a pearl was attributed to that of the central nucleus, and it was concluded that if the nucleus was dark, the pearl would be of a similar hue.^[78] This theory has also been upset, for pearls are found white on the exterior and quite dark within, and also with these conditions reversed.