1880. ] Concerning Amber. 187 
We find in King’s work on gems, the following: “A large 
amber cup, holding half a pint, has lately been discovered depos- 
ited in a tumulus in Ireland, which, from its size could hardly 
have been cut out of a single block of that substance. It has 
been ascertained by experiment that bits of amber boiled in tur- 
pentine can be reduced to a paste, united and molded into any 
form desired.” 
In Feuchtwanger on gems, we also find similar assertions re- 
garding the melting and reforming of amber. Both King and 
Feuchtwanger are in error on this point. If amber were ever 
thus melted and molded, the art has certainly been lost. 
Repeated experiments have failed to produce such a result, 
although a recent German scientific journal informs us that a 
patent for such a discovery has been applied for. An art so 
valuable, if successful, would certainly insure a fortune to the in- 
ventor. Nor is it necessary to have recourse to such a theory in 
order to account for the cup exhumed from the Irish tumulus. 
Alexander, Czar of all the Russians, owns a tea-set cut from 
blocks of this precious material. I have seen rough specimens 
both in the Berlin and Vienna museums larger than would have 
been required for the cup alluded to. 
The imitations of amber are various. Glass paste is sometimes 
used, another composition is of turpentine and caoutchouc, still 
another, linseed oil, gum mastic and litharge, to which finely 
powdered copal is added to give the appearance of veins, add to 
this, ants of decalcomania, and we have the material of the cigar- 
holders which so deceived the uninitiated during our exhibition at 
Philadelphia. The most perfect imitation is the uncolored cellu- 
loid. Abbé Haiiy gives the following mode of detecting or 
identifying amber: “ Attach a fragment to a knife, and when in- _ 
flamed the amber will burn with some noise and ebulition, but 
without liquifying so as to flow, whereas all other resins and 
compositions melt and drop.” A better method is perhaps the 
electrometer, | poak. 
Very little amber has as yet been found in the United States. 
Gay Head, Martha’s Vineyard, Camden, N. J., and Cape Sable 
only are mentioned as its localities. A barrel full of small pieces 
was taken out of the green sand in New Jersey, which through 
some mistake was burned. . ao Oe 
Let ushope for the accident which may yet reveal to us hidden | 2 
