456 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1899. 



years, mainly from the Baltic, where it occurs in a strata of lignite- 

 bearing sands of Lower Oligocene age. According to Berendt 1 these 

 are two amber-bearing strata, the one carrying the amber in nests and 

 both underlaid and overlaid by clayey seams, and the second and lower 

 a glauconitic sand commonly known as the blue earth. The material 

 is mined by open cuts where the strata come to the surface; by means 

 of shafts and tunnels, as in coal mining; and by dredging or diving, in 

 the latter case the material having been derived originally from the 

 amber- bearing strata and redeposited on the present sea bottom. 2 



The pieces obtained vary from the size of a pea to that of the hand. 

 The annual product at present amounts to some 300,000 pounds, valued 

 at about $1,000,000. The price of the material varies greatly with the 

 size and purity of the pieces. Pieces of one-fourth pound weight bring 

 about $15 a pound, while the small granules will not bring one- 

 twentieth that amount. The value of the material is often lessened by 

 the presence of flaws and impurities, or inclosures, such as insects and 

 twigs of plants. (Specimens Nos. 53056, 61140, 66812, 67748, U.S.N.M.) 

 7&?s. Amber is used mainly in jewelry, in small ornamentations, 

 and smokers' goods, the smaller pieces being used in making varnish. 

 The clear pieces and chippings have of late been compressed by a 

 newly discovered process into tablets some 6 by 3 by 1 inches in size, 

 which can be utilized in the manufacture of articles for smokers' use. 



RETINITE. The name retinite is used by Dana to include a consid- 

 erable series of fossil resins allied to amber, differing mainly in con- 

 taining no succinic acid. They occur in beds of brown coal of 

 Tertiary and Cretaceous age, much as does the amber proper. The 

 principal varieties that have thus far proven of any economic impor- 

 tance are noted below: 



CHEMAWINITE. This is the name given by Professor Harrington 3 

 to an amber-like resin found associated with woody debris on the south 

 east shore of Cedar Lake in Canada (Specimen No. 62602, U.S.N.M.). 

 The material occurs in granular form and in small sizes only, such as 

 are quite unsuited for manufacturing purposes. The true gum-bearing 

 stratum, if such exists, has not yet been discovered, the material thus 

 far found being washed up by waves on the beach. According to 

 O. J. Klotz* the beach matter resembles the refuse of a sawmill, no 

 atones and very little sand being associated with the debris, which is 

 everywhere underlaid by clay. The principal beach was estimated to 

 contain some 700 tons of granular material. 



A somewhat similar resin is found in the lignite and soft greenish 



^chriften der Physikalisch-okonomischen Gesellschaft, VII, 1866. 

 2 According to the Engineering and Mining Journal of May 20, 1893, the dredging 

 process on the Baltic coast has been discontinued as no longer profitable. 

 3 American Journal of Science, XLII, 1891, p. 332. 

 American Jeweler, No. 2, XII, 1892. 



