52 The JVaturalists’ Companion. 
Amber. 
BY DR. B. F. MASON, SAN DEANDRO, CAR. 
Amber is found in irregular masses 
with a resinous lustre, without cleav¬ 
age, and of a yellow, brown, red or even 
white color. Its hardness is between 
2 and 2-5, and its specific graviW from 
1.066 to 1.081. It is transparent to 
translucent, and when scratched with 
a knife leaves a white streak. It be¬ 
comes electric on friction and fuses at 
287 centigrade. It is a fossil, indura¬ 
ted resin, or gum, of vegetable origin, 
which has undergone some change 
while inhumed, due partly to acids of 
sulphur, probably proceeding from the 
decomposition of iron pyrites. It is 
usually found in beds of lignite, in al¬ 
luvial soil on or near the sea coast. 
Its composition is found to be by 
anal}'sis: 
Carbon,.78.94. 
Hydrogen,..10.53. 
Oxygen,.10.53. 
True amber is distinguished from 
the imitations by its becoming elec¬ 
trical when rubbed, by its usual yel¬ 
lowish-green color and toughness—it 
can be cut into many forms—also by 
its burning with a yellow flame, and 
emitting a peculiar odor. This pecu¬ 
liar odor and the white streak which is 
left when scratched, are very character¬ 
istic of a rnber. 
Amber w^as called elektron by the 
Greeks, from its so readily becoming- 
electric when rubbed, and thus it gave 
the name electricity to science. It 
was named by some of the ancients 
lycurium^ though this name was appli¬ 
ed by Theophrastus also togircon and 
tournialine, minerals of remarkable 
electrical properties. The ancientGreek 
philosophers, who noticed amber’s pe¬ 
culiar electrical powers when subject 
to friction, held the strange belief that 
it was endowed with a soul In Ara¬ 
bia for ages it has been considered a- 
talisman against the evil eye, and in 
other countries a string of amber beads 
worn about the neck, has long been 
considered as a protection against in- 
flamation of the throat on account of 
their warmth to the skin, and their 
maintenance of a constant circle of 
electricity. All the ancient writers 
speak of amber as a precious gem. 
The earliest Etruscian jewelry consist¬ 
ed of carved amber, which was called 
lynx stone, it was supposed to have; 
some relation to the lynx. It is said 
that on one occasion Nero had the am¬ 
phitheater adorned with amber. One 
of the largest masses of amber in the 
world is in the Royal Museum at Ber¬ 
lin, and weighs eighteen pounds. An¬ 
other in the kingdom of Ava, India, is 
a little larger than an orange and 
weighs two and a half pounds. Still 
another mass, weighing twelve pounds, 
is owned by a Dantzic, who values it 
at three thousand dollars. 
The greatest quantity and finest 
quality of amber is found in the Baltic 
sea, also in the sand on its shores, par¬ 
ticularly after a storm, whose violence 
has washed it up from the deep. This 
amber often contains insects, and is 
highly prized as a curiosity. Often 
the insects appear to have struggled to 
escape after having been entangled in 
the soft gum, for occasionally a leg or 
wing is found some distance from the 
body 
Amber is mined from the mountains 
of Prussia ; it is found on the coast of 
Denmark and Sweden;in Galicia, near 
Lemberg and at Miszan; in Poland; in 
Moravia, at Boskowitz; in Russia; in 
