174 Amber ; tts Origin and History. [ April, 
ations in Belgium, where the Tertiary strata likewise repose on the 
Cretaceous beds, that the “ Glauconitic Sand,” which contains the 
Amber, may have been preceded by other deposits. In the mean- 
time the coasts continued covered with luxuriant plant-growths— 
with that flora, in fact, the most delicate structures of which are 
still preserved to us in the clear Amber. If we consider that the 
temperature was then much higher than it is now, that the land 
descended from the highest North towards the South, and was there 
washed by a Middle-Kuropean sea, the temperature of which was, 
perhaps, elevated by a warm current, we shall then find it explained 
how this flora contains certain northern forms associated with 
plants of a temperate climate, and with others whose nearest allies 
now live in much more southern regions. Thus, Camphor-trees 
(Cinnamomum polymorphum, Heer) occur with Willows, Birches, 
Beeches, and numerous Oaks; amongst the Conifers the most 
abundant tree was a Thuja, very similar to the Thuja occidentalis 
now living in America, next to which abounded Widdringtonia, 
Pines, and Firs in great variety, and amongst them the Amber- 
pine. Many thousands of the last might already have perished, 
and while the wood decayed, the resin, with which the stem and 
branches were stored, might have accumulated in large quantities 
in bogs and lakes in the soil of the forest. In order to explain, 
however, that this accumulation of Amber could be suddenly 
broken up, floated away, and scattered, I assume that the coast 
of the district was at that time on the point of sinking. ‘This 
supposition will appear less arbitrary when we see, as we shall 
presently, that alternate upheavals and depressions of the country 
may be positively proved to have occurred in the immediately 
succeeding period. If at that time the coast sank but slowly, 
nevertheless in the lapse of a few centuries, or even in a shorter 
time, a great portion of the flat coast-terraces might have been 
covered by the sea. The forest-earth was washed up by the waves, 
and the Amber carried into the sea. The greater portion being 
probably still attached to the wood, it could float about in the 
water for some time before it sank. The forest of the inundated 
coast was also destroyed; but the stems of the trees which floated 
out into the open sea were scattered about, only those pieces of 
wood which lay in the earth with the Amber sinking with it to the 
bottom. Thus perished the greater portion of the Amber forests ; 
but it is not necessary to assume that they were all destroyed, as it 
is much more probable that in the higher districts of the country 
there still remained many forests which also were rich in Amber- 
trees. 
The deposition of the “Green Sand” lasted for a long time 
afterwards, and pieces of Amber still continued to be washed into 
the sea; but it was only in the neighbourhood of the streams that 
