Bernstein, Germ.; Sucin, coraib, ambre jaune, Fr.; Electrum, succinum, Lat.; Yellow mineral resin, Haidinger.

This substance has been in repute from the earliest times, and, in consequence of certain properties it possesses, gave rise to many romantic and fabulous stories. According to the poets, when the sisters of Phaethon were lamenting his fate, their tears, instead of mixing with the waters of the Po, into which he had been precipitated by the thunder of the incensed Jupiter, consolidated, and were transformed into amber, on which the ancients set such an immense value. Sophocles, too, according to Pliny, hesitates not to avouch that beyond India it proceeds from the tears that fall from the eyes of the birds Meleagrides wailing and weeping the death of Meleager. Again, the electricity of this substance, which was long observed before it could possibly be understood, was another source of surprise and conjecture, and induced individuals to believe that amber was possessed of some living principle; and Thales went so far as to imagine it had a soul, and even Pliny appears to have entered into the same idea. This property, which has subsequently been discovered in a multitude of other bodies, gave rise to the science of electricity,—a denomination derived from the Greek ἐλέκτρον, by which name amber was known to the ancients. The Arabian name Karabé, meaning attract-chaff, is also very significant of this property. We thus find that a bit of amber was the first electric machine ever put in use. Little, however, did Pliny and the philosophers of his days, when debating on the tears of the sisters of Phaethon, or of the birds that wept the fate of Meleager, dream of the researches of their successors, or of the effects to be produced by the multiplication and concentration of the power originally discovered in a bit of amber.

It was not surprising that a substance so prized and so valuable should be found to possess many important medicinal qualities. It is to be suspected, however, that, taken per se, the virtues it possesses may be summed up in what Pliny states, viz., "True it is, that a collar of amber beads worn about the necks of young infants, is a singular preservative to them against secret poison, and a countercharm for witchcraft and sorceries." The same feelings may probably have handed down even to our own time the superstitious veneration with which the necklace of lammer beads has always been held among the lower classes of our own countrywomen, whose necks may still be seen ornamented with this esteemed heirloom, while their backs are supporting a load of fish or of salt to the market.

The use of amber in medicine might now be considered as ail, were it not that chemists have succeeded in extracting from it, by distillation, a liquid of a very pungent smell, which is a good antispasmodic, but now little used. The oil of amber entered into the composition of the syrup of karabé, in the older pharmacopoeias.

As a matter of course, the origin of amber was also wrapt in mystery, but for this there seems to be no longer occasion; with very few exceptions, it seems always to occur in beds of bituminous wood. "Near the sea-coast in Prussia there are regular mines for the working of amber: under a stratum of sand and clay, about 20 feet thick, a stratum of bituminous wood occurs, from 40 to 50 feet thick, of a blackish brown colour, and impregnated with pyrites. Parts of these trees are impregnated with amber, which sometimes is found in stalactites depending from them. Under the stratum of trees were found pyrites, sulphate of iron, and coarse sand, in which were rounded masses of amber. The mine is worked to the depth of 100 feet; and, from the circumstances under which the amber is found, it seems plain that it originates from vegetable juices." (Phillips.) The next unequivocal example of this being the fact as to the origin of amber occurs in the brown coal of Hasen Island in Greenland. Here it presents itself usually in very small specks; but these are often of a highly brilliant transparent character. Similar repositories are found in France, at St Paulet, department du Gard; at Cobaillès, in the province of the Asturias in Spain; and in Saxony. Nowhere, however, does amber occur so abundantly as on the Prussian coasts of the Baltic, between Königsberg and Memel.

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1 The salaries of the mission in Persia are not charged upon the Consolidated Fund, but are paid out of the sum of L12,000, which is received annually by the Treasury from the East India Company towards defraying the general expenditure of the diplomatic service in Persia. Amber. The bed of coal which we have described above seems to extend under the sea; and, subsequent to every heavy storm, a large quantity of amber is sure to be found on the coast. It is secured by fishermen by means of nets, and being the property of the crown, is delivered to the proper officers at a certain rate. It is said that the revenue derived from this sometimes amounts to 16,000 or 17,000 dollars. This has been the great source of supply to the whole of Europe from the earliest times.

Besides these sources, amber is found in other situations removed from all apparent connection with vegetable origin. In the neighbourhood of Paris it occurs in small grains in the plastic clay; it likewise occurs at Aix in Provence, disposed in clay; and it has often been found among the gravel in the neighbourhood of London. The coasts of Sicily and the Adriatic likewise afford amber. The most beautiful specimens are perhaps those which are found at Catania. They often possess a beautiful play of colour, approaching to purple, not to be observed in the product of other places.

The predominant colour of amber is yellow, generally of a pale straw colour; but it passes into honey yellow and yellowish white. Occasionally it is perfectly transparent, and in this state it is in the greatest esteem for work.

It has been said that individuals had invented the means of rendering opaque and dark-coloured amber transparent, and of even communicating peculiar colours; but these processes have perished with the inventors. It is said, that by exposing opaque amber, covered with sand, in an iron pot, to a gentle heat for forty hours, or by boiling it for twenty hours in rapeseed oil, it will become transparent; but in either case it loses its electric qualities.

In mineralogical cabinets amber is placed among the inflammable substances. It occurs in irregular and spheroidal masses, with a rough uneven surface. It presents no natural cleavage; its fracture is conchoidal; its lustre is resinous, and the streak white.

It is brittle, and its hardness varies from 2-0 to 2-5; specific gravity 1-078 to 1-081; and, when rubbed, acquires a strong negative electrical virtue. According to the analysis of Drapier it consists of:

| Carbon | 80-59 | |--------|-------| | Hydrogen | 7-31 | | Oxygen | 6-73 | | Lime | 1-54 | | Alumina | 1-10 | | Silica | 0-63 |

These three earthly ingredients seem to be accidental; for Schröter found in it only carbon, 78-82; hydrogen, 10-23; oxygen, 10-95; equivalent to C₁₀H₈O.

It burns with a pale yellow flame, with a good deal of black smoke, and evolves an agreeable odour, leaving a carbonaceous residue. It is cut into various ornaments and works of art, and is a favourite article for the construction of mouth-pieces to smoking apparatus.

One of the most singular peculiarities in the history of amber, is the circumstance of its very often containing insects and even reptiles enclosed within it. The high prices which such rarities commanded set the ingenious to work to imitate and forge specimens to all appearance genuine; which has cast so much discredit upon the fact itself, that all specimens of this description are now viewed with jealousy and suspicion. That, however, being admitted, there can be no doubt whatever that such objects are actually found in amber, and sometimes present appearances which it would be extremely difficult if at all possible to imitate. Of those insects which have been originally inclosed in amber, some are plainly seen to have struggled hard for their liberty, and even to have left their limbs behind them in the attempt; it being no unusual thing to see, in a mass of amber that contains a stout beetle, the animal wanting one, or perhaps two of its legs, and those legs left in different places, nearer that part of the mass from which it has travelled. This also accounts for the common accident of finding legs or wings of flies, without the rest of their bodies, in pieces of amber; the insects having, when entangled in the yet soft and viscid matter, escaped at the expense of leaving those limbs behind them. Drops of clear water are sometimes also preserved in amber. These have doubtless been received into it while soft, and preserved by its hardening round them. Beautiful leaves of a pinnated structure, resembling some of the ferns or maidenhairs, have been found in some pieces; but these are rare, and the specimens of great value. Mineral substances are also found at times lodged in masses of amber. Some of the pompous collections of the German princes boast of specimens of native gold and silver in masses of amber; but as there are many substances, as sulphurites of metals, and mica, that have all the glittering appearance of gold and silver, it is not to be too hastily concluded that these metals are really lodged in these beds of amber. The most celebrated manufactures of amber are, in Prussia, at Königsberg and Danzig; in Sicily, at Catania and Tripani; at Leghorn; and at Constantinople.

The value of amber depends upon its colour, its lustre, and its size. In 1576 a mass weighing 11 pounds was found in Prussia, and deemed worthy of being presented to the emperor; latterly a mass of 13 pounds was found, for which 5000 dollars were said to be refused. Such masses are of very great rarity. The principal demand for the amber of commerce is among the Armenians, through whom it is conveyed to Egypt, Persia, China, and Japan; and a great quantity is purchased to be consumed at the shrine of Mahomet, by the pilgrims bound to Mecca.