CHAP. 57.—REMARKABLE FACTS CONNECTED WITH PEARLS—THEIR NATURE.
It is quite clear that the interior of the pearl is solid, as no fall is able to break it. Pearls are not always found in the middle of the body of the animal, but sometimes in one place, and sometimes another. Indeed, I have seen some which lay at the edge of the shell, just as though in the very act of coming forth, and in some fishes as many as four or five. Up to the present time, very few have been found which exceeded half an ounce in weight, by more than one scruple. It is a well-ascertained fact, that in Britannia2644 pearls are found, though small, and of a bad colour; for the deified Julius Cæsar2645 wished it to be distinctly understood,2646 that the breast-plate which he dedicated to Venus Genetrix, in her temple, was made of British pearls.