the queen conch from the Florida reef, with a fine head cut into the outer surface, showing how it is done. The tools of the worker in cameos are of the most delicate description. Fine files, knitting-needle like implements, triangular-shaped steel cutters, are arranged in a seemingly endless confusion before the worker. The shell or piece of shell to be cut is either lashed or glued to a heavy block or held in the hand, and the face, animal, or other object outlined first with a delicate lead; having thus laid the foundation, the lines are gone over with a delicate needle first, then various kinds, the work gradually growing before the eye, reminding one of the work of the engraver on wood.
LIVING BEETLES, ETC.
Insects have always been used more or less in decoration, especially in Brazil, where the richly-colored beetles of the country are affected as articles of personal adornment. Recently in a Union Square jewelry store a monster beetle was on exhibition, having been sent there for repairs. It was alive, and about its body was a delicate gold band, locked with a minute padlock; a gold chain attached it to the shawl of the owner. Sometimes they are worn upon the headgear, their slow, cumbersome movements preventing them from attracting great attention. They are valued at from $50 to $100 apiece. Snakes, the rich green variety so common in New England, are worn by some ladies as bracelets, while the gorgeous reptiles are often imitated in gold and silver, with eyes of diamonds, rubies, or black pearls. Gold bears are the proper thing now for pins. In the East the chameleon is often worn as a head ornament, the animal rarely moving, and forming at least a picturesque decoration, with its odd shape and sculptured outlines. Various other reptiles, as small turtles, alligators, etc., are pressed into service. The curious soldier-crab has been used as a pin. Placed in a box with a rich pearly shell prepared for the purpose, it will change houses, and then, secured by a gold or silver chain, roams about the wearer, waving its red and blue claws in a warlike manner. Birds are, perhaps, more commonly used as natural ornaments than any other, and a cloak of the skins of humming birds is one of the most magnificent objects to be imagined. One, of a rare species, was once sold in Europe for $5,000. Single birds are often worth $700 or $800. A cloak of the skin of the great auk would bring $8,000 or $10,000. Some of the most beautiful pheasants are extremely valuable–worth their weight in gold. Tiger claws are used in the decoration of hats, and are extremely valuable and hard to obtain.
Within ten years the alligator has become an important factor to the artistic manufacturer. The hide, by a new process, is tanned to an agreeable softness and used in innumerable ways. The most costly bags and trunks are made from it; pocket-books, card-cases, dining-room chairs are covered with it, and it has been used as a dado on the library wall of a well-known naturalist. It makes an excellent binding for certain books. Among fishes the shark provides a skin used in a variety of ways. The shagreen of the shark’s ray is of great value. Canes are made of the shark’s backbone, the interstices being filled with silver or shell plates. Shark’s teeth are used to decorate the weapons of various nations. The magnificent scales, nearly four inches across and tipped with seemingly solid silver, of the giant herring, are used, while scales of many of the tribe have long been used in the manufacture of artificial pearls.
PEARLS.
The latter are perhaps the most valuable of all the offerings of animate nature, and are the results of the efforts of the bivalve to protect itself from injury. A parasite bores into the shell of the pearl bearer, and when felt by the animal it immediately fortifies itself by covering up the spot with its pearly secretion; the parasite pushes on, the oyster piling up until an imperfect pearl attached to the shell is the result. The clear oval pearls are formed in a similar way, only in this case a bit of sand has become lodged in the folds of the creature, and in its efforts to protect itself from the sharp edges, the bit becomes covered, layer by layer, and assumes naturally an oval shape. This growth of the pearl, as it is incorrectly termed, can be seen by breaking open a $500 gem, when the nacre will be seen in layers, resembling the section of an onion. The Romans were particularly fond of pearls, and, according to Pliny, the wife of Caius Caligula possessed a collection valued at over $8,000,000 of our money. Julius Caesar presented a jewel to the mother of Brutus valued at $250,000, while the pearl drank by Cleopatra was estimated at $400,000. Tavernier, the famous traveler, sold a pearl to the Shah of Persia for $550,000. A twenty-thousand-dollar pearl was taken from American waters in the time of Philip II. It was pear-shaped, and as large as a pigeon’s egg. Another, taken from the same locality, is now owned by a lady in Madrid who values it at $30,000.
Fresh water pearls are often of great value. The streams of St. Clair County. Ill., and Rutherford County, Tenn., produce large quantities, but the largest one was found near Salem, N. J. It was about an inch across, and brought $2,000 in Paris. The pearls from the Tay, Doon, and Isla rivers, in Scotland, are preferred by many to the Oriental, and in one summer $50,000 worth of pearls have been taken from these localities by men and children. Mother-of-pearl used in the arts is sold by the ton, from $50 to $700 being average prices. The last year’s pearl fisheries in Ceylon alone realized $80,000, to obtain which more than 7,000,000 pearl oysters were brought up.
SEPIA AND SILK.
The sepia of the artist comes from a mollusk, and is the fossil or extant ink-bag of a cephalopod or squid, while the cuttle-fish bone is used for a variety of purposes. In the islands of the Pacific the young of the pearly nautilus are strung upon strings and sold for $25 and $20 as necklaces. The tritons are in fair demand, and many tons of cowries are sent to Europe yearly, while the shipment of a thick-lipped strombus in one year to Liverpool amounted to 300,000. The rich coloring of the haliotis is used for inlaying art furniture. From the pinna, silk of a peculiar quality is obtained. It is the byssus or cable of the animal. The threads are extremely fine, and equal in diameter throughout their entire length. It is first cleaned with soap and water, and dried by rubbing through the hands, and finally passed through combs of bone, iron, or wood, of different sizes, so that a pound of the material in the rough gives only about three ounces of pure thread. It is mixed with a third of real silk and spun into gloves, stockings, etc., having a beautiful yellow hue. The articles made from it are, however, not in general use. A pair of gloves from pinna silk would cost $1.50, and stockings about $3. Fine specimens of such work can be seen in the British Museum.
Though not of animal origin, amber is one of the choicest vegetable productions used in the arts. It is the fossil gum of pines. Great beds of it occur at various points in Europe. On the Prussian seaboard it is mined, and often washes ashore. In 1576 a piece of amber was found that weighed thirteen pounds, and for which $5,000 was refused. In the cabinet of the Berlin Museum there is a piece weighing eighteen pounds. Ambergris, from which perfumery is made, is a secretion taken from the intestines of the whale, and a piece purchased from the King of Tydore by the East India Company is reported to have cost $18,000. Whales’ teeth, the tusks of elephants, and those of the walrus and narwhal, are all used. Elephants’ feet are cut off at a convenient length, richly upholstered, and used as seats; the great toe-nails, when finely polished, giving the novel article of furniture an attractive and unique appearance.
It is probably not generally known that the web of certain spiders has been used. Over 150 years ago, Le Bon, of France, succeeded in weaving the web material into delicate gloves. Prof. B.G. Wilder investigated the question thoroughly, and was a firm believer that the web of the spider had a commercial value, but as yet this has not been realized. It would be difficult to find an animal that does not in some way contribute to the useful or decorative arts.–_C.F.H., in N.Y. Post_.
* * * * *
A catalogue, containing brief notices of many important scientific papers heretofore published in the SUPPLEMENT, may be had gratis at this office.
* * * * *
THE SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT.
PUBLISHED WEEKLY.
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION, $5 A YEAR.
Sent by mail, postage prepaid, to subscribers in any part of the United States or Canada. Six dollars a year, sent, prepaid, to any foreign country.
All the back numbers of THE SUPPLEMENT, from the commencement, January 1, 1876, can be had. Price, 10 cents each.
All the back volumes of THE SUPPLEMENT can likewise be supplied. Two volumes are issued yearly. Price of each volume, $2.50, stitched in paper, or $3.50, bound in stiff covers.
COMBINED RATES–One copy of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN and one copy of SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN SUPPLEMENT, one year, postpaid, $7.00.
A liberal discount to booksellers, news agents, and canvassers.
MUNN & CO., PUBLISHERS,
261 BROADWAY, NEW YORK, N. Y.
* * * * *
PATENTS.
In connection with the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, Messrs. MUNN & Co. are Solicitors of American and Foreign Patents, have had 35 years’ experience, and now have the largest establishment in the world. Patents are obtained on the best terms.
A special notice is made in the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN of all Inventions patented through this Agency, with the name and residence of the Patentee. By the immense circulation thus given, public attention is directed to the merits of the new patent, and sales or introduction often easily effected.
Any person who has made a new discovery or invention can ascertain, free of charge, whether a patent can probably be obtained, by writing to MUNN & Co.
We also send free our Hand Book about the Patent Laws, Patents, Caveats. Trade Marks, their costs, and how procured, with hints for procuring advances on inventions. Address
MUNN & CO., 261 BROADWAY, NEW YORK.
Branch Office, cor. F and 7th Sts., Washington, D. C.