Coral was known and appreciated in ancient times.
We find traces of it with the Sumerians, Assyrians, Phoenicians,
and with the Celts too, who had a real passion for the “red
gold”. Fifteen centuries before Christ coral was
already considered, on the asian markets, one of the
most precious exchange products, in the place of coins.
I was lucky enough to see some jewels made in China
around 1200 / 1300, which I could buy and take to Italy.
Well, these jewels were made of Mediterranean coral!
Since the ancient times coral has been the object of
arguments about its nature. The ancients thought it was
vegetal, a sea plant, because of its tree-shape. The
fact, though, that once extracted from the sea it would
harden and petrify, and could be worked as a stone, let
the alchimists state it was of mineral nature. Nor the
legend about the coral origin helps us solve the question:
the nymphs, amazed by the fact that the branches
change into stone when in touch with the blood of the
Medusa, enjoy dipping more branches in the blood and
throwing them into the sea. We could go on and on with
mythology, but whith no success. The question if coral
was of mineral or vegetal nature remained unsolved. We
have to wait until 1723, when doctor Andrea Peyssonel
from Marseille, after the studies made by the neapolitan
alchimist Filippo Finella puts end to this argument asserting
that coral is an animal! Coral is in fact a colony of
small coelenterata looking like little polyps, that with
their calcium carbonate secretions form a solid
structure in which they live and reproduce.
From the scientific point of view coral belogs to the
anthozoans (from the greek Antos Zeion: flower-shaped
animal) and within this family to the octocorals(from
the number of their tentacles).
Talking about coral we must pay attention not to mistake
the corallium subgroup (that we work) for the corals
forming the reefs of the pacific ocean atolls: these
are corals, or better, esacorals, that we don’t
work, and that are used as home decorations. These are
the famous madrepores in the beautiful colours (white,
red, blue) that for sure many of you have in their sitting-rooms.
Well, better to know that the harvesting of these madrepores
is forbidden! |
