11 
The following Paper was read at the Winter Meeting, 
(March, 1871,) of the Warwickshire Naturalists’ Field Club, 
and at the request of the Council of the Warwickshire 
Natural History and Archeological Society, who were dis- 
appointed of a Paper promised them by Mr. Bloxam, is 
published here instead :— 
The Nature, Origin, and Geological History of Amber, 
with an Account of the Fossils which it contains, by the 
Rev. P. B. Brodie, M.A., F.G.S., Vice-President of 
the W.N.F.C. 
The history and origin of Amber is a very interesting one 
and one which has only lately been clearly elucidated in an 
able paper, by Professor Zaddach,* of Kénigsberg; and from 
it many of the facts in this paper have been obtained. It 
struck me that a brief account of it might prove instructive 
and usefulto the members of our Field Club, even to those who 
are not specially interested in Geological problems. Amber 
is usually a bright yellow substance, and like the beautiful 
Diamond and black coal, is more or less a pure Carbon; 
and as we proceed in its investigation will be shown to be a 
resinous gum, originally in a liquid state, and derived from 
pines or other coniferous trees. It possesses a slight odour, 
certain electrical properties, and is capable of combustion; it 
inclosesinsects, leaves and other extraneous matter, and occurs 
in beds of clay and lignite, chiefly in Prussia, belonging to the 
Tertiary formation called Eocene, one of the earliest deposits 
of this age, and in another of still later date. Some Amber 
is so dark that it is called black Amber, and has in its 
appearance and composition, a close analogy to solid Bitumen, 
which latter is a dark mineral oil, smelling like tar. All 
*Quarterly Journal of Science, April, 1868. 
+ The Diamond is the purest crystalline form of Carbon, and Charcoal, which is 
wood from which the yolatile matters haye been driven off by heat, is its purest 
amorphous state. 
