The St. Johns herald., 1891-01-15
SOME CURIOUS FACTS.
The Origin Of Amber, Crystal and Pearls
 Explained by an Expert.

DdEdtlNCfy TCCclLA. Llab Us L&1LLC IelS been known, and even at this day very few people seem to have any notion as to what it is in reality. The Gncielts regarded it as altogether mysterious a4d even magical. They found that t was rendered electrical by friction So as to attract light substances. and our word electricity comes from the Creek name for amber, winch vas 'cl5ctron.' l fa- vorite puzzle with them was how the insects so frequently found il amber came to be so situated. Not as Q mod ern poet has phra5ed it.
 that the thing was cilher rich or rare,
 But how the devil lia t get there:
 ''I have myself seen Q chunk Of very transparent amber in which 6 small liz ard with five legs was encascd, looking as if it might have been alive yesterday, though, doubtless, it had been dead for thousands of ycars. The mystery re- Carding this sort of phenomenon $ casi- ly enough explained when it is under stood that amber i5 actually the fossil gum of an extinct kind Of ccnC-bcaring tree. In the process Of hardening t i'm prisoned the flies and other creatures preserved in the chunks of it that arc found to-day. It is discovered plenti- fully by digging in certain paIts of the great plains Cf North Germany, where the strange tree once 1ouTishcd. T is also found in considerable quantities along the shores of tho Battle, in the yellow sandstone. At Palmicllcn, 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 moro valuable than gold then. Now it i3 worth from e to c50 a pound, ac- cording to it's quality. Tho most inn portant use made of 1t isfor mcerschaum and other pipes. Meorschauw, by the way, is material dug out of the earth in Turkey; it comes il boxes holding fifty pounds, and valued a5 from so to $500. The dust and chips obtained from it in the process Of manufacture are worked into pipes, this material being called imitation rlccrschaum." Amber dust is melted, and the product is what is sold as 'amberino.'
 What very beautiful sphere of crystai this is!'' said the newspaper man, taking in his hand a cool globe that looked like huge dewdrop, which the collector handed him for examination.
 ''Yes, that is pretty specimen. I 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 The 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 tho 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 havc the material worked into winc jugs and other vessels. Nero had two drinking cups of crystal worth S3,000 e2ch, and 8 crystal l2dlo also; but when he learno1 that he had lost his kingdom he broke them, lest they fall into tho hands Of any one else. A crystal lens was employed in Rome to l1indle tho sacred vestal fire. Great care was taken not to put the crystal ware in 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, a single cave in the granite yielding 1000 crystals of f-om D to 100 pounds weight"
 And what is this?"
 ''That" replied the collector, "is Q diminutive Chinese god, covered with coat of pearl by real pearl oyster. On such parts of tho coast of the Flowery Kingdom as produce pearl oysters regular business is often made of manu- featuring pearls artiGcially by intro ducing into the shells of the live oysters foreign objects of various kinds. You doubtless know that the pearl is a nor bid symptom in the bivalve. \ 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 it's cwn paaTly secre- tion. The interruption Of light by tho successive coats of which tho pearl is formed in this way gives it it's beautiful luster Taking advantage Of this habit of the pearl oyster the ingenious China man prieS it gently opon end puts in whatever be likes, may be little figure of a god liko this. The oyster goes to work and covers it with pearl, until after few months tho idol is pearl idol"
 Engiand's Prize Twins.
 At Bristol, Eng, arc two young arti- sans who are the prize twins of tho