GEOLOGY. 585 



~^3r those who know how to fathom the most mysterious 

 revelations of Nature she unveils other and quite unex- 

 pected facts, traces of certain acts or certain phenomena 

 which have lasted only an instant ! 



The antiquary no longer finds on the sand any trace left 

 by the bloody feet of those proud conquerors who marched 

 their savage hordes from one end of the earth to the other, 

 whilst humble tortoises, or a few isolated lizards, separated 

 from us by twenty cataclysms, still display to the astonished 

 naturalist the passing impress of their steps upon a soil 

 scarcely consolidated in the most ancient times of our globe. 

 And, moreover, who would think we should even find indi- 

 cations of the storms of the primitive epochs of the earth ? 

 Ram-drops, falling upon the sand, formed impressions upon 

 it which it has preserved by becoming transformed into a 

 solid freestone ! l 



up by violent tempests. It is found mingled with floating wood and marine 

 plants, which are withdrawn from the waves by means of nets. When the mass 

 is rescued from the sea the women and children seek for the precious substance. 

 In the interior of Europe the amber is dug out like fossil products. Beds of it 

 are found in Switzerland, in Poland, and in Italy. It is also met with in Green- 

 land. 



This valuable material flowed so abundantly from the pine-trees that it often 

 accumulated on the ground in masses of considerable size. Here the resin, com- 

 bining with the oxygen of the air, became transformed into succinic acid. The 

 largest piece of amber known is in the Museum of Natural History at Berlin ; it 

 weighs more than thirteen pounds.. Its value is estimated at 1500, although 

 only the tenth part of this price was paid for it ; for, like diamonds in Brazil, 

 amber is considered in Prussia the property of the crown. The shores of the 

 Baltic, which produce the most amber, yield annually about 150 tons. Cosmos, 

 b. i., s. 329. K. Muller, Mei-veilles du Monde Vegetal, t. i., p. 168. 



1 These impressions of rain-drops have been photographed by J. Deane, from 

 rocks in Connecticut. They are evidently due to showers falling on sand still 



