Amber and Jet i\ Ancient Biriai.s. llf> 



ciated with the same tradition, and it is known that the 

 Aztecs in some of their temple rites thus used Amber, and 

 that it was also employed, probably for incense, in the early 

 Catholic churches in Mexico by the Spaniards. The coin- 

 cidence in the two cases is highly interesting.^^ 



It is impossible to leave the subject of Amber — especially 

 when considered in connection with burials — without touch- 

 ing upon what may be regarded as yet another, if quite 

 distinct, of its sepulchral relations. I refer to its unique 

 property as a perfect preserver through the ages of flies, 

 spiders, reptiles, crustaceans, and plants of past geological 

 times — a property which possibly was the first to fix atten- 

 tion upon this strange and beautiful substance, and one 

 which certainly adds to the curiously " uncanny " features 

 likely to impress the untutored mind of early man with the 

 supernatural character of Amber. 



In a paper written many years ago by the Rev. P. B. 

 Brodie, M..A., F.G.S., a well-known geologist and specialist 

 on fossil insects, he refers to "a wonderful collection of 

 Amber belonging to Lady James Murray at Leamington, 

 collected by the late Mr Fairholme on the coast of Ramsgate, 

 where it is washed up after storms, but probably derived 

 from the Baltic. One large piece was valued at ;£'5oo. 

 Most of the bits contained a variety of beautifully preserved 

 insects, among which were many entire diptera, orthoptera, 

 coleoptera, hymenoptera, and one lepidopteron. There were 

 some plants, including a dicotyledonous leaf and stems, and 

 a small shell, apparently a fresh-water mollusk, with a 

 portion of the animal protruding from the interior. From 

 the lucid clearness and beautiful transparency of Amber, and 

 its soft yellow colouring, the insect remains can be most 

 easily examined. It would seem thrt they must have been 

 caught suddenly by the liquid resin as it oozed out of the 

 pines and were entombed alive, which will account for their 

 wonderful state of preservation. Many of them no doubt 

 were caught while on the trees, and even the cunning spider, 



21 G. F. Kniiz. .Anibpr. St. Doniiiifio. ^'.7/l.s■ oiul Prrrio^ts 

 Sionrs. p. 302. 



