402 plint's katuhal histoet. [Book XXXVII. 



tions of the tonsillary glands and fauces, the various kinds of 

 water in the vicinity of the Alps being apt to produce disease 

 in the human throat.^^ 



From Carnuntum in Pannonia, to the coasts of Germany 

 from which the amber is brought, is a distance of about six 

 hundred miles, a fact which has been only very recently ascer- 

 tained ; and there is still living a member of the equestrian 

 order, who was sent thither by Julianus, the manager of the 

 gladiatorial exhibitions for the Emperor Nero, to procure a 

 supply of this article. Traversing the coasts of that country 

 and visiting the various markets there, he brought back amber, 

 in such vast quantities, as to admit of the nets, which are used 

 for protecting the podium^^ against the wild beasts, being 

 studded^" with amber. 



The arms too, the litters,^^ and all the other apparatus, were, 

 on one day, decorated with nothing but amber, a different kind 

 of display being made each day that these spectacles were exhi- 

 bited. The largest piece of amber that this personage brought 

 to Rome was thirteen pounds in weight. 



That amber is found in India too, is a fact well ascertained. 

 Archelaiis, who reigned over Cappadocia, says that it is brought 

 from that country in the rough state, and with the fine bark 

 still adhering to it, it being the custom there to polish it by 

 boiling it in the grease of a sucking-pig. One great proof that 

 amber must have been originally in a liquid state, is the fact 

 that, owing to its transparency, certain objects are to be seen 

 within, ants for example, gnats, and lizards. These, no doubt, 

 must have first adhered to it while liquid, and then, upon its 

 hardening, have remained enclosed within. ^^ 



CHAr. 12. THE SEVERAL KINDS OF AMBER: THE REMEDIES 



DERIVED FROM IT. 



There are several kinds^^ of amber. The white is the one 



88 Goitre, for example. 



89 The projecting part in the Circus or Amphitheatre, next the arena, 

 and immediately in front of the place occupied by the emperor and nobles. 



9" The knots, probably, were adorned with studs or buttons of amber. 



91 " Libitina." IVIeaning the litters on which the slain gladiators were 

 carried away from the arena. 



92 Martial has three Epigrams on Insects enclosed in amber ; B. iy. 

 Ep. 32 and 59, and B. tI. Ep. 15. 



93 These so-called kinds or varieties are mostly accidental variations 

 ouly in appearance. 



