Polytechnic Association Proceedings. 1013 



caused. When lashed by the storms, it tears up the amber out of * 

 the deep-lying beds of amber-earth; by the help of the sea- weeds 

 torn up at the same time from the beds of the sea the amber is 

 heaved upward, and carried to the surface of the water; and when 

 the storm abates and the sea becomes calm, it carries the amber, 

 together with pieces of older brown coal and fresh marine plants, 

 on to the beach, where a hundred hands are wating to intercept it 

 with nets. That is the " amber-drawing," a trying occupation, w 

 which demands a strong and hardy frame, for the cold winter 

 storms yield the richest booty. But many pieces of amber, never- 

 theless, do not reach the shore, for the largest and heaviest pieces 

 have already sunk to the bottom, and lie between the large bould- 

 ers which cover the sea-bed. Therefore, in calm weather, and 

 with clear water, the inhabitants of the coast go in boats, and 

 turning the stones with hooks fastened on long poles, endeavor to 

 discover the amber in the interspaces, and to draw it up with small 

 nets. This is called " strildng for amber." For a long time people 

 vrere contented with whatever amber they could recover by this 

 means from the sea, and these modes of acquisition still furnish the 

 greatest quantity of the amber which is obtained from Samland for 

 commerce. For the last ten years, however, on all points of the 

 coast where amber-earth does not lie too deep beneath the sea-level, 

 endeavors have been made to lay it bare and obtain the amber 

 immediately from it. The circumstance that it is overlain by a bed 

 of very loose sand, which contains a large quantity of water, has 

 hitherto impeded the attempts to open out the amber-earth by 

 subterranean mining-works. And to make this possible, and there- 

 fore to render accessible the stores of amber which lies hidden in 

 the interior of the country, will be the next progress in the acqui- 

 sition of these, in so many respects, remarkable fossils. 



THE NEW CHEMICAL NOMENCLATURE 

 By Samuel D. Tillman. 



The new Chemical Nomenclature was first printed in the Trans- ^ 

 actions of the American Institute for 1865-6. A few copies were 

 at the same time put in pamphlet form, and sent to the leading 

 chemists of this country and Europe. The London Chemical News 

 of March 1st, 1867, reviewed the work, and, a^ was expected, 

 opposed its adoption for the following reasons: 



" 1st. It is founded on shifting theories, i. e., of complex organic 

 nomenclature. 2d. The tendencies of theoretical chemistry are m 



