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work noticed below, whence we abstract the following' account. — The opinion now 

 generally entertained is that Amber is a fossil resin, and that the trees which pro- 

 duced it were coniferous, and belonged to extinct species of the genus Plnus. M. 

 Aycke observes that Amber, as found in its native beds, has evidently been depo- 

 sited by violent causes, floods, &c. The best proof of which is produced both in 

 the manner in which the Amber is deposited, as also in the pieces of rubbed wood 

 found intermixed with it, and which are mfcre or less transformed into carbon. 

 The lumps of wood usually found in the vicinity of Amber, all belong to the Coni- 



ferce, and Mr. Aycke has even discovered some in which the Amber was still to be 

 found lying between the concentric yearly layers, and which were thereby forcibly 

 separated from each other. In the summer of 1835, a small deposit of Am- 

 ber was found a few feet beneath the surface, in the Thiergarten at Berlin ; but 

 there it was deposited in a pure sand, and the pieces were not of an uniform colour. 

 Some pieces of wood which were found with the Amber, M. Meyen had the oppor- 

 tunity to examine, and the results were, that the microscope distinctly showed that 

 the large pieces of wood transformed into carbon, evidently belonged to the genus 

 Pinus. A smaller piece, almost entirely carbonized, is rubbed into a nearly glo- 

 bular shape on one side, and a third piece, two inches and a half long, appears to 

 be the scale of a Pine-apple of very considerable dimensions. Besides these pieces 

 of strongly carbonized wood, a small piece was found in a very excellent state of 

 preservation, belonging to some amentaceous tree, but extremely diflicult to de- 

 termine of what genus. Near Brandenburg, a deposit of Amber has, also, been 

 found, which appears to yield large pieces in considerable quantities. M. Aycke 

 gives us very precise information upon the discovery of Amber in connection with 

 roots, which might easily mislead to the supposition that this Amber had been 

 secreted by their encompassing and enclosing fibres. He notes his asto- 

 nishment at finding these roots in their natural upright position with their fibres 

 directed downwards, still fresh and flexible as when living, and that there was not 

 the least trace of carbonization to be found in them ; but in the strata above 

 there were no stems or larger ramifications of these roots ; and indeed roots are but 

 seldom found therein of the thickness of a quill, for they generally consist of fasci- 



. culated fibres forcibly rent asunder, and which, as in the Conifer oe, branch off in the 

 finest and most delicate ramifications. These fibres of roots, not only encompass 

 considerable pieces of Amber, but frequently their capillary ramifications hang 

 firmly attached to them. M. Aycke observed that these roots do not, by any 

 means, belong to the Coniferce ; and M. Meyen, by the kindness of Alex. V. 

 Humboldt, obtained some for examination, and microscopic investigation proved 

 that they were dicotyledonous. It was not possible to detect that they had secreted 

 the Amber ; but the very opposite opinion is entertained by M. Meyen. — Wieg- 

 mann's Archiv. 



