to the Asiatic countries such as China 

 and India. Occasionally amber is ob- 

 tained from Mexico which has the beau- 

 tiful fluorescence of the Sicilian article, 

 though the exact locality whence it 

 comes is not known. Specimens of 

 carved amber are found among the relics 

 of the Aztecs and it is probable that they 

 used it for incense. The early use of 

 amber by European peoples has already 

 been referred to. There are references 

 to it in the most ancient literature and 

 worked masses of it are found among 

 human relics of the greatest antiquity. 

 Up to comparatively modern times it was 

 an important article of commerce among 

 widely scattered peoples and had much 

 to do with bringing about communica- 

 tion between them. Together with tin 

 it was one of the chief objects which led 

 the Romans to penetrate the Gallic re- 

 gions to the west and north of the Medi- 

 terranean and Pliny says that ''it had 

 been so highly valued as an object of 

 luxury that a very diminutive human 

 effigy made of amber had been known 

 to sell at a higher price than living men, 

 even in stout and vigorous health." One 

 of the most elaborate of the Greek m^ths 

 is that which accounts for the origin of 

 amber. It runs in this wise: — Phac- 

 thon, undertaking to drive the chariot 

 of his sun god father, Helios, lost con- 

 trol of his steeds and approaching too 

 near the earth set it on fire. Jupiter to 

 stop him launched a thunder-bolt at 

 Phaethon and he fell dead into the Erid- 

 anus. His sisters lamenting his death 

 were changed into poplars and their 

 tears became amber. 



In the Odyssey one of Penelope's ad- 

 mirers gives her an amber necklace, and 

 Martial compares the fragrance of amber 

 to the fragrance of a kiss. Milton writes 

 of amber and Shakespeare mentions it 

 both in ''Love's Labor Lost" and "The 

 Taming of the Shrew." 



Necklaces of amber are popular wed- 

 ding presents among the peasants of 

 Prussia and they form an important fea- 

 ture of the ornaments worn by many 

 African chiefs. 



The properties assigned to amber both 

 as a charm and as a medicine have been 

 many. From the earliest times it has 

 been used as an amulet, being supposed 

 to bring good luck and to protect the 



wearer against the evil eye of an enemy. 

 Necklaces of amber beads are used to 

 this day as preventive or curative of sore 

 throat and the Shah of Persia wears 

 around his neck a cube of amber report- 

 ed to have fallen from heaven in the 

 time of Mohammed, which is supposed 

 to have the power of rendering its 

 wearer invulnerable. Amber was also 

 taken internally in former times as a 

 cure for asthma, dropsy, toothache and 

 other diseases and to this day is pre- 

 scribed by physicians in France, Ger- 

 many and Italy for different ailments. 



The use of amber for artistic and dec- 

 orative purposes has declined consider- 

 ably since the Middle Ages, but magnifi- 

 cent illustrations of its employment for 

 these purposes are to be seen in many 

 European museums, notably the Green 

 Vaults of Dresden. 



Though so soft and easily destruct- 

 ible a substance it endures with ordinary 

 care as well as the hardest stone, and 

 works of art formed from amber are as 

 well preserved as any to be found. 



MALICHITE. 



Malachite is a green opaque mineral 

 whose color indicates a salt of copper. It 

 is a carbonate of copper containing water, 

 the percentages being in the typical min- 

 eral, cupric oxide 71.9, carbon dioxide 

 19.9, and water 8.2. It is the common 

 form which copper assumes when it or 

 even its ores oxidize in the air. Many of 

 the green stains on rocks or minerals can 

 be correctly referred to malachite. It is 

 only valued for ornamental purposes 

 however when it occurs in compact 

 masses usually exhibiting concentric lay- 

 ers. Malachite in this form takes a fine 

 polish. Malachite is not a hard mineral, 

 its hardness being between 3.5 and 4. It 

 can therefore be scratched with a knife. 

 It is comparatively heavy, weighing four 

 times as much as an equal bulk of water. 

 When heated before the blowpipe it fuses 

 easily, coloring the flame green. By 

 heating long enough on charcoal it can 

 be made to yield a globule of copper. It 

 is easily attacked by common acids, caus- 

 ing effervescence of carbon dioxide. 

 This test can be used to distinguish it 

 from the silicate of copper, chryscolla, 

 which has the same color. 



Besides its occurrence in massive fonns 



127 



