The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-12-14
OF the European War So Far as
/ the Amber Industry is Con-
] cerled is Given.

WASHINGTON; b. e., Dec a.
Tho National Geographic Society has
given out the following statement con-
corning the amber bearing district
and the lake district OF East Prussia,
which affords picture of conditions
IN one OF the most important parts
of the eastern theater OF the European
war: 81
/" Samland Is an unsung strip OF
cheerless plain from which the whole
Known world has purchased for cen
turtles. 1t Is the heart OF ancient
amberland, and II has remained UNI
known to the ultimate consumers OF
its product for early Phoenician
times down to the present day. It
still supplies the bulk OF the worlds
amber. and the plpc-stem or cigar
holder or jewel that is OF this frag-
rant. translucent substance, was like
~ gathered in its unmanufactured
state on the beaches, in the sand
mines OF from low water around this
peninsula. Samland is an oblong arm
OF East Prussia, eighteen miles In
breadth, and reaching out forty-three
miles toward the Baltic sea. II lies
some 100 miles from the Russian
frontier. and the soldiers Of Russia
who recently crossed its fiat, southern
most stretches first drew attention
toward 1t.
Amber Beads are Made
! Konigsberg, the capital Of East
Prussia and the central amber mar
ket, is situated at the southwestern
corner Of the amber producing terri
tory upon the Pregel river. Much OF
tho amber produced is worked in
Konigsbcrg, and quantities arc sent
to Vienna, where it is manufactured
into all sorts OF smoking appliances.
Amber beads form an especially large
Item In the Konigsberg trade, and are
chiefly sold to the Poles, Russians
and people Of the East. There Is d
superstition among the folk OF Russia
and Poland that amber beads worn by
an infant makes teething easier, and
that amber beads worn by the baby's
nurse draw all contagious diseases
to them and away from their charges,
thus guarding the babys health. So
1t is that one hardly ever sees a Pol,
ASh VI WEI IhuoSldli uuTSS WIllOuI
heavy Chains Of these ornaments.
ITO its uncanny, or al least liys-
terious virtues, the value OF amber
has been largely owing. According to
ancient lore, it was the substance OF
the tears of the sisters Of the incom-
petent sun-charioteer, Phacthon, who,
after their brothers death, were
changed to poplars. The old Greeks
and Romans set an immense value
upon 1t, and in the days when Scythia
and the Alps marked the ends Of the
earth, Greece and Etiuria traded with
samland's amber fishermen.
Even today amber is sold because
OF Its mystic qualities. The people of
the East value it as a stun OF proper
potency for amnIets, and afiibIr
charms against death, disease and the
devil are made in practica! Prussian
Samland for the eastern markets.
Thales Of Mileths, an ancient Greek
philosopher, first OF the physicists,
established the mystic powers of am
Der, and incidently dabbled in cleo
tricity, when he found that it would
attract things after a little rubbing.
From history's dawn to the present
day, many people have had faith In
amber's curative properties. AS a
medicine, 1t has been worn around the
neck and taken dissolved in alcohol.
1t is needless to say that modern
medicine takes little note of amber
Cures"