Margaritae Occident, c1745-1807

Description

Glass jar containing specimens of pearls from the oyster Avicula margaritifera. From the Burges Collection.

Text on paper labels reads ‘Catal. Mat. Med. p. 116. No. 59’ and ‘MARGARITAE ORIENT.’

Nicolas Lemery says that ‘All Pearl is esteem’d cordial, proper against Infection, to recruit and restore lost Spirits; but their chief Virtue is to destroy and kill the Acids, as other Alcalies do, and likewise to correct the Acrimony of the Stomach. Pomet adds that ‘the best and only useful Preparation of it, is the Powder well levigated.’