The St. Johns herald., 1890-11-13
SOME CURIOUS FACTS.
The Origin of Amber, Crystal and Pearls
 Explained by an Expert.


 reporter the other day. ''It IS only com paratively recently that its nature has been known, and even at this day very few people seem to have any notion as to what it is in reality. The ancieEts regarded it as altogether mysterious and even magical. They found that it was rendered electrical by friction so as to attract light substances, and our word electricity comes from the Greek name for amber, which was 'elcctron.' A fa- vorite puzzle with them was how the insects so frequently found in amber came to be so situated. Not as mod ern poet has phrased it:
 that the thing was either rich or rare,
 But how the devil did it get there!
 s'I have myself seen a chunk of very transparent amber in which small liz ard with five legs was encased, looking as if it might have been alive yesterday, though, doubtless, it had been dead for thousands of years. The mystery re- garding this sort of phenomenon is easi- ly enough explained when it is under stood that amber is actually the fossil gum of an extinct kind of coHc-bcaring tree. In the process Of hardening it i'm prisoned the flies and other creatures preserved in the chunks of it that are found to-day. It is discovered plenti- fully by digging in certain pal ts of the great plains Of North Germany, where the strange tree once flourished. It is also found in considerable quantities along the shores of the Baltic, in the yellow sandstone. At Palmicken, in East Prussia, it is dug in regular mines; elsewhere it is picked from cliffs, and good deal of it is gathered in the shape of nodules cast up by the waves. The finest specimen of amber in Europe is cup made of that material, now at the Brighton Museum, England. It was found at Hove some years ago, together with weapons and utensils of stone and bronze, so it is evidently very ancient indeed. In the fourteenth century, and before amber was made into knives and forks with one prong, which were used by princes and church dignitaries, it was more valuable than gold then. Now tits worth from S2 to $50 pound, ac- cording to its quality. Tho most inn portant use made of it is for meerschaum and other pipes. Meerschaum, by the way, is material dug out of tke earth in Turkey; it comes in boxes holding fifty pounds, and valued at from S20 to $500. The dust and chips obtained from it in the process of manufacture are worked into pipes, this material being called limitation meerschaum." Amber dust is melted, and the product is what is sold as 'amberine.'"
 "What a very beautiful sphere of crystal this isl" said the newspaper man, taking in his hand cool globe that looked like a huge dewdrop, which the collector handed him for examination.
 "Yes, that is a pretty specimen. suppose you are aware of the theory en- tertained by the ancients regarding such rock crystal. They thought it was actually ice frozen to great density by duration of time, congealed beyond liquidation. 'Krystallos' in Creek means 'ice.' Tho famous writer on nat ural philosophy, Pliny, who wrote more facts that were not true than ever any man collected together before or since, says the crystal is undoubtedly water frozen by cold so intense that nothing can melt it again. Roman ladies of that time were accustomed to carry such spheres as this one in their hands during hot weather for coolhess. It was the thing also to have the material worked into wine jugs and other vessels. Nero had two drinking cups of crystal worth S3,O0O each, and crystal ladlo also; but when he learned that he had lost his kingdom he broke them, lest they fall into the hands of any ono else. A crystal lens was employed in Rome to kindle the sacred vestal fire. Great care was taken not to put the crystal ware in a warm place for fear that it would melt. The most remarkable dis covery of crystal on record was made in 1867 above the Tiefen glacier by party of tourists, single cavo in the granite yielding 1000 crystals of from 50 to 100 pounds weight"
 'And what is this?'
 That" replied tho collector, ''is a diminutive Chinese god, covered with a coat of pearl by real pearl oyster. On such parts of the coast of the Flowery Kingdom as produce pearl oysters a regular business is often made of manu- featuring pearls artiicially by intro ducing into the shells of tho live oysters foreign objects of various kinds. You doubtless know that the pearl is nor bid symptom in the bivalve. A grain of sand or some such substance getting into the oyster produces irritation and the animal protects itself by covering the objectionable particle with coating after coating of its own pearly secre- tion. The interruption of light by the successive coats of which the pearl is formed in this way gives it its beautiful luster. Taking advantage of this habit of the pearl oyster the ingenious China man pries it gently open and puts in whatever he likes, may be little figure of god like this. The oyster goes A. .-5 ss ,,-sAl, .l