Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1890-09-27
AMBER AND CRYSTALS.
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT THESE
CUGl0Uo cU8oTAECE5.

Working Amber Is Very Ancient Tsusi-
noss-Tt Is Found Only Ia Europe.
Queer Ola Eoman Ideas h-,us Crystal
Nero's Valuable Cups.
"Amher il curious stuff" said a collec
tor Of curios the other Cay. at is only
comparatively recently that its nature has
been known, and even at this day very
few people seem to have any notion aa to
what it is III reality. The ancicnts regard
ed it as altogether mysterious and even
magical. They found that it WIS rendered
electrical by friction so rs to attract light
substances, and orr word electricity
comes from the Greek nGrno for rmber,
which was cectron. a favorite puzzle with
them was how the insects 80 frequently
found in amber became to be so situated.
81 have myself seen chunk Of very
transparent amber in which q smell lizard
with five legs was incasad, locking as il it
might have been alive yesterday, though,
doubtless, it had been dead for thousands
of years The mystery regarding this sort
of phenomenon is easily enough explained
when it is understood that amber Is net
ually the fossil gum Of an extinct kind OF
cone bearing tree In the process Of hard
ening it imprisoned the flies and other
creatures preserved in the chunks Of il
that arc found today. 1t is discovered
plentifully by digging in certain parts of
the great plains of north Germany. where
the strange tree once fiourished.
at is also found in considerable quaint
ties along the shores Of the Baltic, in the
yellow sandstone At Palmicken, in cast
Prussia, it is dug in regular mines else
where il is picked from cliffs, and Il good
deaNsf it is gathered in the shape Of nod
ules cast up by the waves. The finest
specimen Of amber in Europe is cup
made of that material now at the Brighton
museum, England. 1t was found ut Hove
some years ago. together with weapons and
utensils OF stone and bronze so ii is evi
IDENTIFY 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 Now it is worth
from 50 to $50 a pound according to its
qualify. The most important use made of
it is for meerschaum and other pipes"
BEAUTIFUL CRYSTALS.
What a very beautiful sphere of crystal
this s?' said the newspaper man, taking
in his land n cool globe that looked like a
huge dewdrop, which the collector handed
him for examination
ayes, that is pretty specimen. | sup
pose you IRE aware of the theory enter
tanned by the ancicnts regarding such rock
crystal They thought it was actually ice
frozen to great density by duration time,
CONCEALED beyond liquidation 'KTystallos
in Greek means ice The famous writer
on natural 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 thGt 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 GOODNESS.
1T was the thing, also, to have the ma
tcrial worked into wine jugs and other
vessels Nero bad two drinking cups OF
crystal worth $1,000 each, and crystal
ladle also; but when he learned that he
had lost his kingdom he broke them, lest
they fall into the hands of any one else \
crystal lens was employed in Rome to
kindle the sacred vestal fire. Great care
was taken not to put the crystal ware in II
warm place for fear that it would melt
The most remarkable discovery of crystal
on record was made in 1861 above the Tiefen
glacier by II party Of tourists Il single cave
in the granite yielding 1000 crystals Of
from 80 to lC0 pounds weight"
And what is-rhisY''
PEARLS AND PEARL DIVERS.
THAT" replied the collector, 's di
minutiyc Chinese god, covered with coat
IF Tpopl nv pool Nm IA
parts of the coast Of the Flowery Kingdom
MS produce pearl oysters regular business
is often made of manufacturing pearls mr.
tificially by introducing into the shells OF
the live oysters foreign objects of various
kinds. You doubtless know that the pearl
Is morbid symptom in the hivalvc. A
grain of sand or some such substance get
ting into the oyster produces irritation,
and the animal protects itself by covering
the objectionable particle with coating
after coNting Of its own rcarly secretion
The interruption of light by the successive
coats of which the pearl is formed in this
way gives it it's beautiful lustcr. Taking
advantage of this habit of the pearl oyster
the ingenious Chinaman prizes il gently
open and puts in whatever he likes, maybe
little figure of god like this. The oyster
after few months the idol is pearl idol
It is worth mentioning incidentally that
sharks are by no means such n terror &c
pearl divers Hs is commonly supposed. II
Is true that now and then diver does got
gobbled, but for every such human victim
hundreds of sharks are killed by the divers
pearl divers in the Torres straits are not
one-twentieth part so much afraid of the
tiger sharks which are swa>ming there rs
of the giant mollusk at the bottom, six feet
or more across its shell, which lies witt
extended Jaws, as if waiting for the unfor
tunnte fisherman to drop into them. The
victim, dropping out Of his boat into The
depths with heavy stone attached to hi'
feet, brings his leg into contact with tht
mantle of the huge mollusk, which closes
upon the limb with one tremendous bite
Only one thing then remains for the diver
to do, namely-amputate the limb with his
own knife, because the mighty biyalve''
jaws are claspcd together with tenacity
that would take several horse power tC
loosen, and it is anchored to the bottom
with n cable of its own three times as strong
as the best inch rope."- Washington Star
| ----
She Can Make Pills.
! Miss Bertha Higgins studied pharmacy
with her father, and for a time was asso
ciatcd with him in the drug business Mt the
| corner of Pitt and Delaney streets, \
/ big, broad shouldered police officer entereC
! thu 4opn pun DIV loplypd nj ( no briyht lii