The Htflory of Book L 



fmooth, and of a dark colour between a dark-grey and tawny : 

 If it be very dry it (houid be the lighter, proportionably to the 

 bignefs of the piece : Hereby it may bejudg'd whether there 

 be any mixture of Scamony, Bitumen, Wax, Pitch, or Ro- 

 zin, all thefe adding much to its weight : By the fame tryalit 

 may be known whether there be any mixture of fand-, as alfo 

 whether it be not the black Amber-grteceof the Levant. 



If the Owners of it are unwilling to have the piece broken 3 

 take a needle heated, and thruft it into the piece, and if it enter 

 eafily, cooclude there are no ftones within it i, and if you fmell 

 at the liquor which will come forth by the heat of the needle 

 whereby the Amber is melted, you will find it of a fcent not 

 unlike that of gumm'd wax, but at la ft will end in an odour 

 fweet enough. 



But the fureft way is, having agreed about the price of the 

 piece of Amber conditionally it be good, to break it 5 fo you 

 will find whether there be any fmall pebbles in it. The Amber, 

 as we faid before, muft be of an afh-colour, having fmall fpecks, 

 as our Water-nuts : When it is frefh it is of a darker colour 

 then when it is very dry : but it it differ not much from that 

 colour, and be not too black nor too whke, it matters not 5 

 above all it fhould appear of a mixt colour : Take alfo a little 

 out of the middle of the piece, or from that part which you 

 think worft, and put it on a knife heated in the fire, and it will 

 prefently melt like wax, and if the knife be very hot what was 

 put upon it will be quite confum'd. 



When you have thus melted it, obferve whether it hath the 

 fcent we mentioned, which cannot be well known but only to 

 fuch as have made tryal thereof, becaufe it is particular there- 

 to 5 and by that means you will alfo difcover whether there be 

 any mixture in the Amber.* You may alfo while it is melting 

 put a little upon your hand, and fpreading it you may fee whe- 

 ther there be any mixture : It fhould flick fo faft to your hand 

 that it can hardly be got off : When it melts it becomes all of 

 one colour, though before it teemed to be mixt, and inclines 

 to that of fome kind of Rozin : It fhould not difiolve in either 

 water or oyl 5 not but that there is a way to difiolve it in either 

 of them, by the addition of a certain ingredient, which thofe 

 who know it would not have difcover'd : Nor fhould it be re- 

 duc'd to powder, nnlefs being very dry it may be fcrapedor 

 grated, and be mixt with fome fine powder : It alfo fticks much 

 to the Mortar, which therefore muft be often made clean : 

 The black will never be reduce} to powder, neither this, nor 

 any other way. 



The difference between the black and the grey confifts 

 chiefly in the colour, which inclines to that of black pitch, 

 and not mixt with whitifh-grey feeds, but all over alike: The 

 black is alfo fofter and more weighty, and fmells more like 

 Bitumen. There 



