Nature and Art, March 1, 1867.] 
A GOSSIP ABOUT AMBER. 
75 
three categories, they would be “Golden” amber, 
“Water” amber, and “Black” amber. There is 
very little doubt that by the first is meant fossil 
or true amber, and by the second and third amber- 
gris. Frequent reference is made to the exquiste 
perfume of amber ; but seeing that true amber has 
little or no perfume, in comparison with ambergris, 
the latter is doubtless indicated. Moreover, the 
described colours of the last two sorts, — viz. grey and 
black, point to ambergris, that substance being ge- 
nerally black and soft when expelled from or found 
in the sperm whale, and gradually acquiring light- 
ness of colour, hardness, and pungency, as it is tossed 
about on the surface of the sea. The Hindus knew 
that both amber and ambergris were waifs of the 
sea- and their assumption that black amber was 
the excrementitious matter of some large fish was 
singularly near the truth. 
As far back as the beginning of the Christian 
era, not only had definite ideas, consistent with rea- 
son, been formed as to the origin of amber, but an 
active trade in the article had arisen, in order to 
supply the Italian market. Pliny says, “ There can 
be no doubt that amber is a product of the islands of 
the Northern Ocean, and that it is the substance by 
the Germans called G he. sum.” After indicating- 
more particularly the locality, he tells us that amber 
is produced from a marrow discharged by trees be- 
longing to the Pine genus, like gum from the cherry, 
and resin from the ordinary pine ; that it is a liquid 
at first, gradually hardened by atmospheric action ; 
and he adduces in proof that it is the juice of the 
pine, the allegation that it emits a pine-lilce smell 
when rubbed, and that it burns with the odour and 
appearance of pine wood. The precise locality of 
the northern amber country was about the same 
period laid down by Tacitus, who, in his description 
of the tx-ibes of the vEstii, says they are the only 
people that gather amber, which by them is called 
Glessixm, and that it long lay disregarded among the 
debris thrown ixp by the sea, ixntil Roman luxury 
created a demand for the neglected substance. It is 
interesting to note that the name of the tribes de- 
scribed by Tacitus as ambei’-collectoi-s, is still pre- 
served in that of the palatinate of Esthonia, in the 
kingdom of Prussia. During the reign of the 
emperor Nero, the demand for amber as a material 
for ai-ticles of pei’sonal adornment must have been 
vei'y great. The Roman ladies, like their fair 
sisters of later periods, were not insensible to the 
delicate beauty of amber ornaments, but, on the 
contrary, held them in the highest possible esteem ; 
and some idea lxiay be formed of the extent to 
which ostentatious display was carried by the 
members of the Imperial court, from the fact 
that the Emperor despatched a messenger to 
the amber country, in order to pi'ocure a lai’ge 
supply of the article, and with such success 
that the nets and other paraphernalia of the 
gladiatorial arena wei-e studded with pieces of the 
much-coveted material. The jom-ney from the 
Tiber to the Baltic, by way of the Adriatic and the 
Danube, must have been an undertaking of serious 
magnitude ; and the fact that such an expedition 
was ordered, in all probability to gratify the whim 
of a reigning beauty, and certainly to procure an 
article of the merest luxury, furnishes a fair 
example of Nex-o’s reckless munificence. 
It would be too much to expect from uninstructed 
man, that such a peculiar product as amber should 
not have been invested with supernatural attributes. 
Its property of attx-acting light substances after 
friction was so suggestive of life, as to lead observers 
to the most astonishing conclusions. That a frag- 
ment of inert matter should have the power of 
attracting, and not only so, but of holding another 
fragment of matter equally inert, was so obviously 
opposed to natural law as to leave no doubt in the 
mind of any rational being that some intelligence of 
another mould, some fairy or some wayward djinn, 
had evinced consummate taste in the selection of a 
material for its dwelling. Hence, in the fairy 
literature of Persia, one of the abodes of the Pei-is 
is called Amber-abad ; hence the amber moon of the 
Hindu, and hence too the various superstitions 
current among the northern nations connecting- 
amber with faii-y pranks and witches’ spell. Among 
the ti'ibes inhabiting the southern shore of the 
Baltic, this belief was naturally prevalent, as the 
mysterious circumstances attaching to the appear- 
ance of amber were kept continually before them, 
and so, without possessing any vei'y definite notion 
on the subject, the substance was associated in their 
minds with the manifestations of witchcraft, in 
which they firmly believed. This view of the 
matter is fully borne out by the plot of a story 
entitled “ The Amber Witch,” written by the 
pastor of a district in Pomerania, and published 
in the year 1843. The time is the period of the 
Thirty Yeai’S war, and although there are a good 
many actors in the drama, including a vei-itable 
witch, the whole of the complications of the plot — 
complications which nearly had a disastrous termi- 
nation for the heroine — arise from the circumstance 
of the poor pastor and his daughter having dis- 
covei’ed a vein of amber, from the secret working 
of which they derive a considerable, and, in the 
opinion of their neighbours, a most mysterious 
revenue. The daughter, in the stillness of the 
night, is seen by malevolent eyes in quest of the 
hidden treasure, and, seizing the incident, the real 
witch succeeds in fastening the authorship of her 
evil deeds on the pastor’s daughter-, who is therefore 
called the Amber Witch. The story is well told, 
and the name will not be easily forgotten, as it is the 
title of an opera by the late Mr. Vincent Wallace, 
by whom the leading incidents of the tale have 
been wedded to most charming music. 
If the superstitions connected with, amber were 
localized in the Baltic provinces, the natural ex- 
pectations of the investigator would be satisfied ; 
but the interest with which the subject is clothed 
is greatly increased wheix it is found that the centre 
of the belief in the supernatural efficacy of amber, 
as far as ancient records and modern relics enable 
us. to judge, is to be found in Scotland, the in- 
habitants of which country seem to have had the most 
unlimited faith in what may be faiily denominated 
