St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1903-09-05
VIRTUES OF AMBER.
Supposed by Some People to Possess
Healing Power-somethfnS
OF Its History.

where to get them, but I understands
,ou people keep them"
aSorry, my good man; but we are all
,ut Of them at present, but can tell you
where you can get them, and the clerk
gave the young man the address OF 2
|ewelry firm nearby. says the New York
Herald.
ITS strange" said the clerk, "how
many people come in here to buy am
Der sbea1s. We used to- keep astock on
hand, but there was no money In It Tor
us, and we gave 1t up" The clerk was
we'll informed on the subject, and went
on to tell something about amber that
was interesting, indeed. You know,
it is an old superstition : he continued.
that string OF amber beads around q
child's throat win keep OF throat
and especially Group. Doc
tors, OF course. pooh-pooh the idea. but
mothers will swear by the beads.
Whether there is really anything In It
or not cannot tell, but must say that
people testify to the fact that these
heads do wonderful good In throat
and 1t Is really facts that
count.
you know, the idea Is an old one,
and amber was known before the Chris
tian era. History says that Poppaea
made Nero dress the amphitheater at
Rome. with amber, and had broken
pieces strewn in the arena to prevent
the infectious odor OF the common peo-
pie from reaching her when at the
games during an epidemic. The Turks
were the first to use amber as mouth
piece for pipes, owing to its alleged
quality OF not carrying Infection.
Such mouthpieces were first fitted to the
public pipes-those which were passed
from mouth to mouth.
Few people know where amber real
IL is found. but most OF it comes from
Prussia and some from France and
Norway. Gathering Of amber is no
child's play, but is fraught with priva-
ton, hard work and danger. The
mother whose baby wears q string OF
beads little knows Of the risks that
were run to get the yellow gum. In
olden times the amber used to be gath
cred after storms. the heavy seas having
loosened the wealth which lay at the
isbottom of the shore water. The men
would then venture up to their necks
In the surf, and with long poles, having
hooks on the end. they would rake up
the pieces OF amber and carry them In
to shore.
This is now much simplifed, and
we no longer wait for storms, but In
stead divers are employed. who go to
| the bottom ct the sea and detach the
Irich deposits. When the amber has
been washed and the pebbles have been
picked out, it Is passed into revolving
4 drums with certain amount Of sand,
which scrubs of the outer surface. II
is then sorted into about dozen dif-
Iferent varieties, according to color and
|Eshape.s Flat pieces are used for smok-
Ierss goods. round pieces 90 to make up
beads and fragments for varnish. The
size used to be en- important CONNER
cial factor. It il just % easy now to
make q large Mouthpiece IS It was
\ formerly small one, At the worlds
flair they had cigarette mouthpiece
Il that was over 50 inches In length
Years ago the price for such biz
stem would have been enormous, but
lnow it is considerably reduced. TIT
\ pale pieces ct amber are bought by thu
pipe i manufacturers Of Turkey and
Egypt; the light, whitish colors ar
fused for ornaments In Italy, ana TN
finest grades of clouded green, graz
. and blue are sent to the United States
England and France.
"What is amber? Well, that is no
80 easy to answer. Men of science So
that ages ago, long before Earl Ell
] carried at his side the mighty sword
\ with the hilt Of smber, that gave hin
. warning OF the storm and hght, Their
= stood on the Samland q mighty forea
Of conifers, whose descendants to-da
Iare found In California and Oregon
These trees piled up around their root
the golden gum, and when the se
. subsequently wiped out the forest, II
! amber was buried in Its depths. frol
which it il now secured.
2 Amber can be traced through tt
= world as q love philter, char
Z against all kinds OF Illness, sorcer
lwitchcraft. poison and blindnes
Hundreds OF unknown insects az
q plants have been found embedded
q the yellow gum. Strange to say, an
,e her cannot be counterfeited, any mo-
,e than diamonds can. Amber used to
t. yery fashionable for jewelry, but no
D. Iit il only used as pipestems and &
10 warding of disease.
Babylon Arithmetic.