136 AMBER, OIL OP 



Germar and Sclrvreiger state that tho insects enveloped in amber are in general 

 such as sit on the trunks of trees, or live in the fissures of their bark. Theso 

 naturalists have not been ablo to refer thorn to any living species ; but it has been 

 observed that they resemble more tho insects of hot climates than those of tho tempo- 

 rate zones. Tho Eev. F. W. Hope, F.R.S., in his paper on tho ' Succinic Insects,' 

 states them to be altogether extra-European. D. T. Tcssler sent to the Exhibition, in 

 1851, a piece of amber containing tho log of a toad. 



Amber is found abundantly on the Prussian coast of the Baltic, occurring from 

 Dantzic to Memol, especially between Pillau and Dorfo Gross-Hubnicken. It is also 

 found in many of the lignite workings opened in the great plain of North Germany. 

 A rich and unexpected locality was discovered a few years ago in Kurland. It 

 occurs also on the coast of Denmark and Sweden ; in Gallicia, near Lemberg ; and at 

 Missan, in Poland ; in Moravia, at Boskowitz ; in tho Uralian Mountains, Russia ; 

 near Christiania, Norway ; in Switzerland, near Basle, and other places. Small 

 quantities are occasionally found in the clay of tho Paris and the London basins. 

 ' Amber is occasionally met with in the gravel-pits near London, and I have soon 

 specimens which were found in Hyde Park. At Aldborough after a raking tido it 

 is thrown on the beach in considerable quantities, along with masses of jet.' 

 Eev. F. W. Hope, Trans. Ent. Soc. On tho Sicilian coast amber is sometimes found 

 having a peculiar blue tinge. Largo discoveries of amber have been reported from 

 Australia. 



Amber is collected on the coast of Prussia in several ways. It is found in the 

 bods of streams ; in the sand-banks of rivers ; in pieces thrown up by tho sea and 

 rounded by the waves ; it is sought for in the cliffs, and in some places mining 

 operations for it are carried on. 



The amber-fishers, clothed in leather dresses, wado into the sea, and seek to 

 discover tho amber floating on its surface, which they secure with bag-nets hung at 

 the ends of long poles. They conclude that much amber has been detached from its 

 bed, when they discover many pieces of lignite floating about. Mining is carried on 

 by sinking through the sand and superficial strata to the beds containing the amber 

 and lignite ; many of these pits are sunk to the depth of 130 feet. The faces of the 

 precipitous cliffs are explored in boats, and masses of loose earth or rock supposed to 

 contain the object of search aro detached with long poles having iron hooks at their 

 ends. 



The most extensive use of amber is for the construction of mouth-pieces to pipes ; 

 these form an essential constituent of the genuine meerschaum and the Turkish pipe. 

 There is a current belief in Turkey that amber is incapable of transmitting infection, 

 and as it is a great mark of politeness to offer the pipe to a stranger, this supposed 

 negative property of amber accounts in some measure for the estimation in which it 

 is held. Amber necklaces aro not uncommon : the Russian peasant girls adorn them- 

 selves with double and treble rows of amber beads, but it not unfrequently happens 

 that copal is substituted for the genuine article. 



The Prussian Government is said to draw a considerable annual revenue from 

 amber. A good piece of a pound weight fetches 50 dollars. A mass weighing 13 

 pounds has been found, the value of which at Constantinople was said to bo not less 

 than 30,000 dollars. 



When amber is to be worked into trinkets, it is first split on a leaden plate at a 

 lathe, and then smoothed into shape. on a Swedish whetstone. It is polished on tho 

 lathe with chalk and water, or vegetable oil, and finished by friction with flannel. 



Amber, after having been filed, may be polished with Trent sand, or scraped 

 Flanders brick on flannel with water, or with rotten-stone with oil on flannel, or tho 

 same material dry on the hand. Turned works are, however, generally polished first 

 with glass-paper and then with rotten-stone and oil. Necklaces and other ornaments 

 in amber are frequently cut into facets by the gold-cutters, those artisans who cut 

 and polish facetted works. Holtzapffel. 



From the electrical character of amber, it frequently during the process of polishing 

 becomes so excited as to crack and fly to pieces. The workmen, therefore, take 

 several pieces, and work them each for a short time and in regular order. Theso 

 men are said to be seized with nervous tremors in their wrists and arms from the 

 electricity thus developed. 



Pieces of amber may be neatly joined by smearing their edges with linsoed oil and 

 pressing them strongly together while they are held over a charcoal fire. 

 ACID OF. See SUCCINIC Aero. 



AMBER, Oil* OP. ( Oleum succini). This is obtained by distilling amber, for 

 which purpose chippings of amber and inferior pieces aro used. When it is distilled 

 with charcoal, the first product is the rectified oil of amber. Tho oil of amber has a 

 composition of C^ H 18 (C 10 B1 16 ). When 1 part of rectified oil of amber is dissolved in 



