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work noticed below, whence we abstract the following account.—The opinion now 
generally entertained is that Amber is a fossil resin, and that the trees which pro¬ 
duced it were coniferous, and belonged to extinct species of the genus Pinus. M. 
Aycke observes that Amber, as found in its native beds, has evidently been depo¬ 
sited by violent causes, floods, &c. The best proof of which is produced both in 
the manner in which the Amber is deposited, as also in the pieces of rubbed wood 
found intermixed with it, and which are more or less transformed into carbon. 
The lumps of wood usually found in the vicinity of Amber, all belong to the Coni- 
ferae , and Mr. Aycke has even discovered some in which the Amber was still to be 
found lying between the concentric yearly layers, and which were thereby forcibly 
separated from each other. In the summer of 1835, a small deposit of Am¬ 
ber was found a few feet beneath the surface, in the Thiergarten at Berlin ; but 
there it was deposited in a pure sand, and the pieces were not of an uniform colour. 
Some pieces of wood which were found with the Amber, M. Meyen had the oppor¬ 
tunity to examine, and the results were, that the microscope distinctly showed that 
the large pieces of wood transformed into carbon, evidently belonged to the genus 
Pinus. A smaller piece, almost entirely carbonized, is rubbed into a nearly glo¬ 
bular shape on one side, and a third piece, two inches and a half long, appears to 
be the scale of a Pine-apple of very considerable dimensions. Besides these pieces 
of strongly carbonized wood, a small piece was found in a very excellent state of 
preservation, belonging to some amentaceous tree, but extremely difficult to de¬ 
termine of what genus. Near Brandenburg, a deposit of Amber has, also, been 
found, which appears to yield large pieces in considerable quantities. M. Aycke 
gives us very precise information upon the discovery of Amber in connection with 
roots, which might easily mislead to the supposition that this Amber had been 
secreted by their encompassing and enclosing fibres. He notes his asto¬ 
nishment at finding these roots in their natural upright position with their fibres 
directed downwards, still fresh and flexible as when living, and that there was not 
the least trace of carbonization to be found in them; but in the strata above 
there were no stems or larger ramifications of these roots ; and indeed roots are but 
seldom found therein of the thickness of a quill, for they generally consist of fasci¬ 
culated fibres forcibly rent asunder, and which, as in the Coniferce , branch off in the 
finest and most delicate ramifications. These fibres of roots, not only encompass 
considerable pieces of Amber, but frequently their capillary ramifications hang 
firmly attached to them. M. Aycke observed that these roots do not, by any 
means, belong to the Conferee ; and M. Meyen, by the kindness of Alex. V. 
Humboldt, obtained some for examination, and microscopic investigation proved 
that they were dicotyledonous . It was not possible to detect that they had secreted 
the Amber ; but the very opposite opinion is entertained by M. Meyen.—Wieg- 
mann’s Archiv. 
