PEARLS THAT BREED.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LV, Issue 14013, 18 September 1909, Page 6

PEARLS THAT BREED.

A pretty little romance with a suggestion of nature-faking about it has been creating considerable discussion in Singapore. There- are in existence, it is_ said, "breeding pearls" which have given birth to other pearls and still continue to perform the reproductive function. Several of these gems now in the of Mr. William Clarke, chief clerk of the Treasury, have been inspected by representatives of the Straits Times. The pearls have been in Mr. Clarke's family for many years, and have, he declares, produced many baby pearls, which were also exhibited for inspection. The mother pearls have been kept in cot-ton-wool with nasi pulut, a glutinous variety of rice, and there is no doubt about the baby pearls being there also. Nobody has actually jeen tbe act of birth, but Mr. Clarke declsresjHiat from tbe original breeding pearl, wWli came into the possession of bis family many years ago, hundreds have since been bred. There would seem to be quke a number of breeding pearls in the possession of the older Singapore families, and particularly amongst the Chinese. To set at rest the question whether a given pearl can * reproduce a family, the obvious suggestion is that an official pearl * should be given a ( *feed" of pulut^aecurely locked awny trader seal, "and re-examined for results at the end of, say, twelve months. It is believed that if the pearls are too often disturbed or are touched they cease to perform the function of breeding. The other side of the story is supplied by Mr. L. Haimovich, of Singapore, who is an authority on pearte. He scoffed at the idea that pearls could breed by being stowed away in & box with a number of grains of rjre. He gave, however, an explanation for the apparent breeding that was worth more than passing notice. According to his theory, pearls may certainly appear to breed.* Seed pearls, or ev<n pearls of a larger size, are sometiires cemented together, while in the Ikklv or shell of the oyster, and covered with several layers of mother-of-pearl, so that they do not show their double nature, appearing as a deformed single pearl. However, the breeding quality h not claimed for all pearls, but only for the particular so-called breeding variety to be obtained in Java and Borneo.