The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-06-03
ABOUT AMBER.
Interesting Facts Concerning This
Beautiful and Precious Material.
From liarpers Bazaar.

Although amber is not a precious
stone, or anything of the sort, it is,
nevertheless, precious material, one
full of picturesque interest and very
beautiful to boot. Most of the am
Der of the world has been found
thrown up on the shores of the Baltic
sea, and is supposed to be the resldium
of an old and huge forest Of a period
before the civilization Of the world
began. A little is found in this COun-
try, a little in England, a little in
the far orient; a little of it is mined,
and there the fossil trees. whose gum
it was, are still in evidence in the
strata with the gum eXudng from
them; but the most Of the worlds am
ber comes from the Prussan coast.
Originally the appropriation of any
piece of amber found along the shore
was punished with death. At present
the region is let out to contractors, and
the coast is patroled for trespassers.
Quantities Of the precious substance
are thrown on the beach after great
storms, and in winter the amber fish
erS break through the ice and sathet
it by hauling up the sea weed into
which it has become imDedded, or go
out into deep water and spear up the
masses of sea weed that carry it.
The great entrepot or the sale of
amber is in Vienna, where it is cut
and carved into faceted beads and
fanciful shapes. This is very delicate
work, owing to the brittle nature of
the article, and requires an unusual
skill and artistry. Sometimes an in
sect is found sealed into the gum, the
chief interest of which is that it is an
extinct insect Of a long vanished past
When any modern insect is found in
what puTports to be amber, it is known
not to be amber, but merely gum
cOpal. Amber can be told from copal
by the fact that the flame Of burning
copal is steady, while that of amber
snaps and sparkles. 1t is distinguished
from its imitation in glass by biting ii,
the glass resisting the teeth stOutly,
the amber seeming to yield to the bite.
True amber, moreover, is electrical; in
deed, electricity takes its name from
the old Greek name for amber and
none of it's limitations has any power
of that nature. The best amber will
attract to itself various articles with
great celebrity; if warmed by rubbing,
the second quality will attract with
much less force; and with every less
iineness of grade, resulting usually
from melting and remeltinG, the power
diminishes, till after the fourth quality
has been reached there is no electrical
power left at all
When the best amber is carved the
mOrsels left from the carving are melt
ed, nodded and then recut and the
result is considered of the second quail
ity. This process can be repeated four
or five times, but each time the grade
is of less value than that Of the time
before
The great purchasers Of amber are
among the Mohammedans; and won
dcrful specimens are to be found in
the Turkish markets. The women are
very fond Of il, both for its color and
its fragrance, to illumine their toilets,
and the men use it for mouthpieces to
their pipes; as the friendly pipe is
passed from mouth to mouth, and wip~
ing it would be n great solecism, it is
made of amber, which is supposed by
the Turks TO resist infection. We will
see mothers even in this enlightened
country who secure a string cf amber
beads around their child's throat with
a no wiser purpose and belief.
While this brilliant and beautiful
substance has no power OF separating
and refracting rays of lsht as a crys-
tai has, it has the power of holding the
rays in itself till ii looks like solidihed
sunshine. There is a soft radiance,
like that Of yellow harvest moons, in
the cloudy and milky amber the moss
valuable sort; and both that and the