SOURCES OP AMBER. 161 



rished is not certain. There seems, however, to be no 

 hesitation in ascribing its age to the middle or later 

 Tertiary times. 



The amber-bearing tree has been long extinct, but the 

 causes which led to its disappearance can only be in- 

 ferred. Probably they were chiefly of a climatal nature. 



The present principal sources for European amber 

 occur on certain coast-beds of the Baltic Sea, and most 

 noteworthy are those situated on the south and south- 

 east parts which trend away from Memel towards 

 Konigsberg, skirting the Gulf of Danzig, and the 

 whole delta of the Vistula. The narrow necks of land 

 which here jut into the sea also furnish numerous 

 nodules of the resin. But although the sea-board 

 offers great facilities to the amber-hunter on account 

 of the eroding action of the waves, other localities 

 occur inland ; and the gravel beds of various countries 

 contain concretions in comparative abundance. Masses 

 have been found in Prussia between Palmnicken and 

 Habenicken, said to weigh thirteen, and even eighteen 

 pounds. These specimens are to be seen in the Royal 

 Cabinet at Berlin. 



The amber area, however, is very large, and comprises 

 the shores of the Adriatic, Sicily, and Poland ; the clays 

 of the Paris basin ; deposits near Gayhead in the United 

 States of America ; Canada ; Cape Sable in Maryland ; 

 Madagascar ; and it occurs also in Norway. In Great 

 Britain amber is found in small quantities on the Nor- 

 folk, Suffolk, and Essex coasts ; and Dr. Aikin found 

 nodules also in the alluvial gravels near London. 



In a general way amber may be distinguished from 

 copal and anime by its different density (specific gravity 

 = P070 and hardness = 2*5), and its greater infu- 

 sibility.* Of these resins, amber alone, perhaps, 

 belongs to primaeval times. Copal, which most nearly 



* Aikin's 'Diet, of Chemistry,' i, 57; also Berzelius' 'Traite de 

 Chemie,' vi, 589 ; Watts' ' Diet, of Chemistry.' Vide also Fothergill, 

 " On the Origin of Amber," ' Phil. Trans.' for 1744 and 1745. 

 VOL. IV. 11 



