Unpublished paper, 'The structural arrangement of the mineral matters in sedimentary and crystalline pearls' by George Harley

Description

Harley begins by presenting an overview of existing literature on pearl structure, pointing out that since Rondelet threw out the idea that pearls are merely diseased concretions occurring in the Mollusca in the same way as 'other morbid calculi' occur in the Mammalia, and Réaumur said they are misplaced pieces of organised shell, the opinions of subsequent writers have but oscillated between these two theories. Harley considers whether pearls belong to the animal or mineral kingdom, and presents observations on microscopic sections of crystalline pearls.

Annotations in ink throughout. Includes five pages of figures showing the structural arrangement of the mineral matters in sedimentary and crystalline pearls.

Subject: Mineralogy / Malacology

Received 6 March 1889. Read 28 March 1889.

Whilst the Royal Society declined to publish this paper in full, an abstract of the paper was published in volume 45 of the Proceedings of the Royal Society as 'The structural arrangement of the mineral matters in sedimentary and crystalline pearls'.

Reference number

AP/66/10

Earliest possible date

1889

Physical description

Ink on paper

Page extent

50 pages

Format

Manuscript
Drawing