AMBER: VARIETIES 5-37 



especially in the neighbourhood of enclosures of foreign bodies, these no doubt setting up 

 internal strains. 



The colouring of amber is very uniform in character, no colour but yellow having been 

 met with in the large quantity of Baltic amber hitherto collected. It varies in shade, 

 however, from the palest yellow to dark yellow and brown. Material which has undergone 

 a surface alteration is often red in colour, but fresh specimens never show this colour. Green 

 and blue amber is very rare and will be considered below. 



In spite of the uniformity of its colour several varieties of amber are recognised, the 

 distinctions between them being based principally on the association of different shades of 

 colour with different degrees of transparency. These different varieties differ in the 

 capacity for acquiring a polish, and some by i-eason of their general appearance are more 

 suitable for ornamental purposes than others, and are therefore of greater commercial 

 importance. 



Transparent amber is described in the trade as clear. Shelly amber is nearly always 

 clear ; it is never cloudy throughout and rarely so in alternate layers. Massive amber, on 

 the other hand, is nearly always more or less cloudy; perfectly transparent specimens of 

 massive amber are rare, though more frequent than cloudy specimens of shelly amber. The 

 clear massive variet\' occurs in masses ranging in colour from almost perfect colourlessness to 

 dark reddish-yellow. Water-clear amber is very rare, and is described as "yellow clear''; 

 the reddish-yellow, or " red clear," is more frequent. 



Several varieties of cloudy amber are recognised in the trade, namely, -'flohraig," 

 " bastard," " semi-bastard," " osseous," and " frothy amber." Material which possesses 

 characters intermediate between those of these varieties is distinguished by compound 

 terms of a descriptive kind, such as, " clear-flohmig," " flohmig-clear," " flohmig-bastard," 

 osseous-bastard," &c. 



Flohmig amber is slightly turbid, with the appearance of having been clouded by a fine 

 dust; like the clear variety it is susceptible of a fine polish. The term "flohmig" is 

 derived from the East Prussian word " Flohmfett," which signifies the semi-transparent, 

 yellowish fat of the goose or duck, which this variety of amber is supposed to resemble in 

 appearance. 



Bastard amber is more turbid, but is still susceptible of a good polish. Various terms 

 are used to signify the extent of the turbidity : thus, material which is cloudy throughout is 

 termed bastard proper, while that in which cloudy portions are dotted about in a clear 

 ground-mass is known as clouded bastard. Colour distinctions are also recognised : pure 

 white to greyish-yellow shades of bastard-amber are described as pearl-coloured, the material 

 with paler tones being known in the trade as " blue amber," not to be confused with the 

 rare amber which is actually blue in colour. Yellow and brownish-yellow bastard amber 

 is described as kumst-coloured, from the East Prussian name " Kumst " for cabbage 

 (Sauerkraut), the former being described as pale and the latter as dark " kumst "-coloured. 

 The specimen of amber represented in Plate XX., Fig. 9, is " kumst "-coloured ; part of its 

 surface is polished and the rest in its natural condition. 



Semi-bastard amber is intermediate in character between bastard and osseous amber, 

 combining the appearance of the latter with the capacity for receiving a polish of 

 the former. 



Osseous amber, or more briefly bone, is opaque, softer than the varieties described above 

 and inferior to them in its susceptibility of polish. In colour it ranges from white to brown,, 

 and, as the name implies, it has the general appearance of bone or ivory. 



By the combination of the characters of the different varieties enumerated above, there 



