Note 91 — VIII.
Reading edition
The antiquity of this experiment is proved by the fact that the Topographia of Ischikiang speaks of a pearl, which had been sent to the Imperial Palace at Pekin, 490 b. c., which resembled Buddha, and apparently must have been produced by this same method; although likewise the priests of Buddha, at that early epoch, might not have objected, in the interests of their religion, to make capital out of such a specimen of artistic skill.