THE ANNALS 



AND 



MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY 



[SECOND SERIES.] 

 No. 12. DECEMBER 1848. 



XXXVIIL— On the Amber Beds of East Prussia. By Dr. K. 

 Thomas*. Communicated by the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, 

 M.A., F.L.S. 



The lignite (Braunkohle, Bovey-coal) which occurs on the East- 

 Prussian shore of the Baltic has, in consequence of Dr. Albrecht's 

 recent discovery of the value of the strata, attracted lately more 

 general attention. This induces me to speak of a subject, 

 which is no longer invested with a merely scientific interest, less 

 with a view to question its mineral value, which may I hope 

 prove highly remunerative, than to direct the interest which has 

 been excited to a point, which hitherto has received too little 

 attention in these districts. It is at present a generally received 

 notion, that the surface of East Prussia and the neighbouring 

 provinces was formed of the confused fragments of forma- 

 tions which were torn from their original position by the last 

 deluge which determined the modern condition of the continent. 

 A district of this nature can have merely a subordinate interest 

 for the geologist, and the miner will scarcely search there for 

 the more precious or other metals, or for the fuel which the 

 bounteous hand of nature so frequently deposits in their neigh- 

 bourhood. Once only about the middle of the last century the 

 salt-springs, which occur in the jurisdiction of Pregel, gave oc- 

 casion to a tolerably complete investigation under the conduct of 

 the Prussian minister Von Heinitz, from which it appeared that 

 no further mining exploits could reasonably be undertaken in 

 this district; but thus much at least was established, that the 

 north-western point of Samland, on which the lighthouse of 

 Brusterort is now situated, belongs to the tertiary strata, which 

 stand forth there in a remarkable manner like an island, from 



* From the Number for April 1847 of Die Ostpreussischen Provincial- 

 bliitter. 



Ann. $ Mag. N. Hist. Ser. 2. Vol. ii. 26 



