The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-01-10
WHAT AMBER is.
The Hardened Gum of an Extinct Ever
green Tree.

A. Becker of East Prussia Germany
a member of the firm of Stantien &
Becker, who own and operate the great
est amber mines in the world, the Anna
and the Palmnicken, located on the
north coast of the Baltic sea, which fur
nishes over so per cent. of the amber
sold to the markets of the world, said
recently to reporter:
"Our firm supplies over go per cent. of
the amber and amberoid sold in the
markets of Europe. Great Britain. Asia,
Japan, China and America. Amberoid
is the result of small pieces of amber
compressed into one solid mass by n.y.
draulic pressure. We employ in our
mines and manufacturing processes
about 1000 people, who prepare our
products for the market, ready for the
manufacturer. We make no manufac-
tured goods. Our output is the crude
material and amounts annually to about
ST, 600. 000." Mr.. Becker then exhibited
an elegant cigarette holder of whitish
amber ornamented with gold.
This little holder" said he, "exclus-
i've of its mountings, is worth S.
Continuing, he said: very little of
the real amber is shipped to the United
States. Most of that which is called am
Der here is only amberoid. Amber is
the gum of confer or evergreen tree,
but of what species no one knows. 1t
belonged to the first period of vegetation
of the earth. No one knows in what
cline these trees grew, and no fossil
traces of them are left for the geologist
1t is not improbable that they produced
amber and were stately trees millions
of We hoUa nQrtnin
however, that give us an excellent idea
for the time the gum left the parent tree,
such as insects and particles of vegeta-
BILE matter, entombed in am Der and faith
fully preserved to this modern time.
By the way, it might be of certain in
terest for me to give you briefly the
theory of DIR. R. KeIbs of Konisberg as to
amber He is the highest authority on
this subject in the world. He says there
are 1900 different varieties of insects
found imprisoned in amber, and this
gives US a pretty correct idea of the
fauna in the remote age in which they
lived. They gave us, besides, evidences
of that period Of which we have no
other trace. 1t is very interesting to
compare these insects with those now
existing, as the common fly, for exam
pie. Others, again, are entirely different
showing extinct Species DR.. Klebs's
theory is that the amber was carried to
East Prussia during the glacial epoch
and i'm bedded in the blue earth where
it is found. This blue earth is very
heavy clay, and the strata vary in thick
ness from three to twenty seven feet.
DR.. Klebs considers that this Embedding
process occurred in what biologists term
the tertiary period.
"The right to mine amber or to take
it from the sea dates back to the time
the first knights who colonized East
Prussia appesred-in the fifteenth CEN
fury. They had the primary right to
mine. Subsequently the right merged
in the government, which granted the
privilege to private parties for an annual
consideration. Ny firm pays the Prus-
sian government every year 1000, 900
marks for the right, which equals about
$780, 900 in your money. We mine and
MAJ ket between eighty and ninety differ
emit sizes of amber for shipping. The
largest and most perfect. specimens are
made into mouthpieces for pipes, &C..
and the smaller pieces are made into the
beautiful am Der varnish, which is large
ly used in the interior of steamships,
railroad coaches and on fine furniture. y
st. Paul Globe