AMBER 459 



Uses. Burgundy pitch is used in the preparation of a few plasters. 



Varieties, &c. Much of the Burgundy pitch of commerce is a 

 factitious mixture of resin, turpentine, and palm oil ; it may be 

 distinguished from the genuine by its incomplete solubility in twice 

 its weight of glacial acetic acid (' Pharmacographia'). 



AMBER 



(Succinite, Succinum) 



Source, &C. Amber is the fossil resin of certain extinct Coniferous 

 trees, chiefly of Pinus succinifera, Conwentz. The term is a generic 

 one, several varieties of amber having been distinguished, but that 

 known as Baltic amber, or, better, succinite, is the only one of 

 commercial importance. 



The amber-yielding trees probably formed, in the early part of the 

 period geologically known as the oligocene and belonging to the 

 tertiary formation, extensive forests over the northern parts of 

 Scandinavia. They contained oleo-resin ducts similar to those of 

 Coniferous trees of the present day, and in addition frequently 

 produced abnormal quantities of oleo-resin as the result of injuries, 

 to which they appear to have been especially liable. The oleo-resin, 

 hardened by exposure and liberated by the gradual destruction of 

 the trees, was carried, towards the latter end of the oligocene period, 

 from the position occupied by the forest and deposited in a bed of 

 blue earth of considerable extent near the eastern shores of the Baltic. 

 From this bed of earth which lies below the sea-level the amber is 

 now recovered chiefly by mining, but some little is washed by the sea 

 from the exposed surface of the stratum and thrown up by the waves 

 on the shore. 



Succinite is also occasionally found on the east coast of England, 

 whither it has been brought by the sea. 



Description. Succinite occurs in pieces varying much in size and 

 shape, usually with rounded edges and covered with a dark crust. 

 Internally it is transparent, translucent, or quite opaque (cloudy 

 amber), and of varying shades of yellow or brown. It exhales when 

 warmed a slight but characteristic odour, and is almost tasteless. 

 It is hard, breaking with a bright, conchoidal fracture that is sometimes 

 glassy, sometimes opaque. It is partially soluble (about 30 per cent.) 

 in alcohol, ether (about 20 per cent.), and chloroform (about 20 per 

 cent.) ; it melts at 280 to 290, at the same time decomposing and 

 yielding water, succinic acid, and various tarry products. 



Constituents. That portion of succinite which is soluble in 

 alcohol consists of free succino-abietic acid (itself a complex mixture 



