Very largely used for decoration; small plaques of nacre often engraved with scenes of men worshipping, &c.
Oriental artists are fond of grinding away the dull exterior of the shell and exposing the gleaming nacre underneath; and of carving in this mother-of-pearl picturesque designs, examples of which are often to be seen in curiosity shops.
The two former kinds are on sale in all seaside shops, with the natural rough brown exterior ground away until they gleam outside in the prismatic glory of the nacre layers that lie underneath.
The illustration shows a shell into which small beads have been introduced, and converted into pearls, together with a dozen small figures of Buddha, the Hindoo divinity, seated, which have been covered over with nacre also.
The pearls are polished by shaking them together in a bag with nacre powder.
The valves are cleansed, and piled up in tuns or casks; by raising their external surface plates of nacre are obtained more or less thick, according to the age of the mollusc.
For practical purposes the nacre is separated from the shell with an instrument; sometimes all the exterior part of the shell being dissolved away from the precious substance, leaving only the naked bed of nacre.
Fine pearls and nacre have, in short, the same origin.
The pearls are very small at first; they increase by annual layers deposited on the original nucleus, their brilliancy and shade of colour varying with that of the nacre from which they are produced.
Among the species found in European seas may be noted the Rhine mussel, a large species, the nacreof which is employed for ornamental purposes.
Between nacreand pearls, therefore, there is only the difference of the form of deposition.
This nacreis therefore at once a calcareous and horny matter, which the animal secretes, and which it attaches to the interior walls of the shell during the several periods of its development.
Nacre of three kinds are distinguishable in commerce: silver-faced, bastard white, and bastard black.
This shell is nearly round, and greenish in colour on the outside; it furnishes at once the finest pearls, under favourable circumstances, and the nacre so useful in many industrial arts.
The Gold-mouthed Turbo is so named from its nacrebeing of a rich golden yellow.
A very fine nacre is yielded by this mollusc, which is much used in ornamental cabinet-work.
Nacre is the hard and brilliant substance with which the valves of certain shells are lined in the interior.
The seed pearls are those in which some impurity has been covered but a few times, while the very large pearls are those which have been bathed in nacre time and again.
Another illustration is that of an accumulation of nacre which has assumed accidental resemblance to a miniature shark.
The nacre has reproduced the details of the chiton's exterior with the fidelity of a casting, and further reveals the fact that it was alive when entombed, for its struggles to escape are solidified.
They also stamp little images, popularly called josses, out of metal, and force the animal to cover them with nacre in a similar manner.
Between nacre and pearls, therefore, there is only the difference of the form of the deposition.
The pearls are very naturally small at first, but increase by the annual layers deposited on the original nucleus, their brilliancy and shade of colour varying with that of the nacre from which they are produced.
The shell is nearly round, and greenish in colour on the outside; it furnishes at once the finest pearls, under favourable circumstances, and the nacre so useful in many industrial arts.
A very fine nacreis yielded, which is used in ornamental work.
Fine pearl andnacre have, in short, the same origin.
This species is brown, as its name would indicate, and there is greenish nacre within the aperture.
The nacre of the columella and within the aperture is bluish-green, and the operculum is rich olive.
The above list will hopefully give you a few useful examples demonstrating the appropriate usage of "nacre" in a variety of sentences. We hope that you will now be able to make sentences using this word.
