Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1890-06-14
AMBER, CRYSTAL AND PEARLS.
Facts About Three Very Curious and
Beautiful Things.

stively recently that its nature has
Sbeen known and even at this day
very few people seem TO have any
notion as to what 10 is in reality. The
ancients regarded il as altogether mys-
FERROUS and even magical They found that
il was rendered electrical by friction so as
to attract light substances, and our word 'elec-
triclty' comes from the Greek name for amber,
which was 'electron.' favorite puzzle with
them was how the insects so frequently found
inclosed in amber came to be so situated.
Not as a modern poet has phrased it
that the thing WAS either rich or
But how the devil did it get therer
Il have myself seen q chunk Of very trans
parent amber in which a small lizard with 1--WE
legs was encased looking as if il might have been
alive yesterday, though doubtless il had been
dead for thousands of years. The mystery re-
gardlng this sort of phenomenon is easily
enough explained when it is understood that
AMBER is ACTUALLY THE FOSSIL GUN
OF an extinct kind of cone-bearing tree. In
the process OF hardening it imprisoned the
flies and other creatures preserved in the
chunks of it that are found today. 1t is dis
covered plentifully by digging in certain parts
OF the great plains OF north Germany. where
the strange tree once fourished. 1t is also
found IN considerable quantities along the
shores of the Baltic in the yellow sand stone
lar mines; elsewhere II is picked from cliffs,
and good deal of il is gathered in the shape
OF nodules cast up by the waves The finest
specimen of amber in Europe is a cup made of
that material now at the Brighton Museum
England 1t 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. II was more valuable
than gold then. Now il is worth from 81 to : so
pound, according TO its quality. The most
important use made of ii is for meerschaum and
other pipes. Meerschaum, by the way, is a
material dug out of the earth in Turkey; it
comes in boxes holding fifty pounds and valued
at from $50 TO $500. The dust and chips OBJ
tanned from it IN the process OF manufacture
are worked into pipes, this material being
called imitation meerschaum.' Amber dust il
melted and the product Is what is sold am
berine.'"
FACTS ABOUT CRYSTAL.
What very beautiful sphere OF crystal this
Isl" said the newspaper man, taking in his
hand cool globe that looked like huge dew
drop, which the collector handed him for e1-
animation.
Yes that is a very pretty specimen. sup
by the ancients regarding such rock crystal.
They thought it was actually ice frozen 10
great density and by duration of time con-
gealed beyond liquidation. 'Krystallos' in
Greek means ice The famous writer on
natural philo ophy, Pliny, who wrote more
facts that were not true than ever any man
collected together before or since, says that
crystal is undoubtedly water frozen by cold SO
intense that nothing can melt il again. Ro-
man ladies of that time were accustomed to
~ rrU nah =
during hot weather for GOODNESS. 1t was the
thing also to have the material worked into
wine jugs and other vessels. Nero had 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. 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
discovery OF crystal on record was made in 1867
above the Ilefen glacier by party of tourists,
a single cave in the granite yielding 1000 crys-
tails OF from fifty to one hundred pounds
weight"
ORIGIN OF PEARLS
"And what is this funny little pearly object
in the shape Of tiny human igure2'
THAT" replied the collector, sis a dimin-
utivs Chinese god, covered with a coat of
pearl by real pearl oyster. On such parts of
the coast Of the howery kingdom as produce
pearl oysters regular business is often made
OF manufacturing pearls artificially by intro
ducing into the shells of the live oysters for
eign objects of various kinds. You doubtless
know that the PEARLS morbid symptom in the
bivalve. A grain of sand or some such SUBJ
stance getting into the oyster produces lrrita-
ton and the animal protects itself by covering
the objectionable particle with coating after
coating OF Its own pearly secretion. The in
terruption of light by the successive coats of
which the pearl is formed in this way gives il
its beautiful luster. Taking advantage of this
habit of the pearl oyster the ingenious China
man prizes 1t gently open and puts in whatever
he likes, may be little figure of q god
like this. The oyster goes TO work and
covers it with pearl until after q few
months the idol is pearl idol 1t is worth
mentioning incidentally that sharks are by no
means such a terror 10 pearl divers as is COM
monty supposed. 1t is true that now and then
a diver does get gobbled, but for every such
human victim hundreds Of sharks are killed by
the divers. In q great majority of instances
the diver proves much more than a match for
the shark, at home as he is in the water and
armed with long keen knife for striking the
fish behind the pectoral fin, in the fatal spot
The diver is
PERFECTLY SAFE WHILE on THE BOTTOM
gathering oysters, because the man-eating
sharks are not ground feeders and they will
not touch him there. 1t is when he is rising
to the surface with his catch, out Of breath
after two minutes spent below, that he is apt
to find a fish perhaps 35 feet in length looming
overhead like a gigantic shadow, waiting TO
take him in at q bite. This is unpleasant, but
1t is the shark that gets the worst of it usually
The first thing the diver tries to do is to get
to the surface for a breath Of air; then he goes
under again and maneuyers until he gets the
fish afouL Pearl divers in the Torres straits
are not one-twentieth part SO much afraid Of
the tiger sharks which are swarming there as
of the giant mollusk at the bottom, six feet or
more across its shell. which lies with extended
jaws, as If waiting for the unfortunate fisher
man to drop into them. The victim, dropping
out OF his boat into the depths with heavy
stone attached TO his feet, brings his leg into
contact with the mantle of the huge mollusk,
which closes upon the limb with one ire
mendous bite. Only one thing remains then
for the diver to do-namely, to amputate the
limb with his own knife, because the mighty
bivalve's jaws are clasped together with q
tenacity that would take several horse power
to loosen, and it is anchored to the bottom with
a cable of its own three times as strong as the
best inch rope"
He Went Out to Drop Smith.
At about o'clock in the afternoon, says the
New York Sun, 1 came along to q Kentucky