OXYGENATED HYDROCARBONS. 325 
Il. OXYGENATED HYDROCARBONS. 
Amber. 
In irregular masses. Color yellow, sometimes brownish 
or whitish; lustre resinous. ‘Transparent to translucent. 
fee 2=2ea, G.==1-18. Blectrie by friction. 
Amber is not a simple resin, but consists mainly (85 to 99 
per cent.) of a resin which resists all solvents, called Swc- 
cinite, and two other resins soluble in alcohol and ether, 
besides an oil, and 24 to 6 per cent. of Swcetnic acid. 
Obs. Occurs in the loose deposits along coasts, especially 
Tertiary strata, in masses from a very small size to that of 
a man’s head. In the Royal Museum at Berlin, there is ¢ 
mass weighing 18 pounds. On the Baltic coast it is most 
abundant, especially between Konigsberg and Memel. It 
is met with at one place in a bed of bituminous coal; it 
also occurs on the Adriatic; in Poland ; on the Sicilian 
coast near Catania ; in France near Paris, in clay ; im China. 
It has been found in the United States, at Gay Head, 
Martha’s Vineyard ; Camden, N. J.; and at Cape Sable, 
near the Magothy River, in Maryland. 
It is supposed, with good reason, to be a vegetable resin 
which has undergone some change while inhumed, a part 
of which is due to acids of sulphur proceeding from decom- 
posing pyrites or some other source. It often contains in- 
sects, and specimens of this kind are so highly prized as 
frequently to be imitated for the shops. Some of the insects 
appear evidently to have struggled after being entangled in 
the then viscous resin, and occasionally a leg or a wing is 
found some distance from the body, having been detached 
in the struggle for escape. 
Amber is the ele&tron of the Grecks ; from its becoming 
electric so readily when rubbed, it gave the name electricity 
to science. It was also called saccinum, from the Greek 
succum, juice, because of its supposed vegetable origin. 
It admits of a good polish and is used for ornamental 
purposes, though not very much esteemed, as it is wanting 
in hardness and brilliancy of lustre, and moreover is easily 
imitated. It is much valued in ‘Turkey for mouth-pieces 
to pipes. 
Copalite, or Mineral Copal, Walchowite, Ambrite (the New Zealand 
resin), Huosmite, Scleretinite, Middletote are some of the names of 
other fossil resins ; Geocerite, and Geomyricite, of wax-like oxygenated 
spoc.es; Guyaquillite, Bathvillite, Torbanitc, Tonite (from Tone valley, 

