114 Amber and Jet in Ancient Burials. 



and that the extraordinary property of both substances of 

 becoming electric when rubbed would seem to them to come 

 direct from a spirit, to whose protection they were gladly 

 committed by their relations and friends when placed in the 

 tomb. Dr Robert Munro tells us of the objects of Amber 

 found in the graves in the cemetery of Hallstadt. There 

 were 171 in those of inhumation, and 106 in those of 

 incineration, the latter had more abundant objects of luxury 

 other than Amber. i'' In the Marne district in France, where 

 there were Neolithic interments in caves, among other 

 objects referred to are beads and pendants of Amber. ^^ 



During the Stone Age in Prussia Amber was put to 

 multifarious uses, beads, necklaces, buttons, studs, pendants, 

 and pieces rudely formed into human figures having been 

 found in graves in that district. 1® Baltic Amber has been 

 found in abundance in the Lake Dwellings of Switzerland, 

 chiefly beads, and similar beads have come from tombs in 

 Central Italy. The fact that Amber attracted light sub- 

 stances, and that it emitted a faint perfume, invested it 

 with an essence of mystery. 20 Pliny, xxxvii., 3, says in his 

 time the peasant women in the regions west of the Po wore 

 Amber necklaces for medical reasons, and he enumerates 

 ailments for which it was a specific. A few years ago an 

 interesting discovery of Amber was made in the island of 

 San Domingo. It appears to exist in considerable amount, 

 and often in pieces of good size suitable for making carved 

 objects of much beauty. It possesses a florescence similar 

 to that seen in some of the Amber from Catania, Sicily. A 

 tradition exists in the island that the natives used to burn 

 a substance of this kind, probably this very Amber, and it 

 is said they still do so, burning all they can find. A similar 

 fluorescent Amber occurs in the interior of Mexico, asso- 



17 Hastings's Encydopadia of BeUgion and Ethics, " Death 

 arid Disposal of the Dead," vol. iv., p. 471. 



18 Hastings's E ncydopcedia of BeUgion, vol. iv., p. 467, 

 ' K ambles and Studies in Bosnia." 



19 Hastings's Encydopccdia of BeUgion, vol. 3, p. 145. 



20 Op. cit., vol. iii.. p. 422. 



