Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1915-07-14

.elCctr1clty. On &C
count Of these properties amber was for
merry believed TO possess wonderful pow
ers of protection against disease.
Everybody il familiar with Its use for
pipe-stems and mouthpieces. for which
purpose IL is unrivalled and also for max
ing beads and other ornaments of per-
sonal adornment. Many persons still have
confidence in the ability of string of
amber beads to ward off throat troubles
from the wearer. In ancient times am
her was much employed in the making OF
small figures and effigies. Pliny has
recorded the fact that in his time little
human figures carved out OF amber some
times sold at higher prices than were
commanded by the strongest and healthi-
est slaves.
The Phoenicians paid visits TO the Bal
tic amber beds, and in the time of En-
peror Nero a Roman expedition to the
same locality brought back more than
six tons of amber. Humboldt ascribed to
the amber trade a very great influence
In opening up a connection between the
northern and southern shores of Europe
Not only was amber carried around by
sea, but II also passed from people to
people across Germany and through the
Celtic territories on both sides OF the
A
Pannonia to the lower valley OF the Dan
ube and the Black Sea.
There is no doubt that amber IL the
fossilized gum Of trees OF the pine family.
but precisely what the species wes from
which the gum was mainly derived is
still On unsettled question. These trees
must have grown in abundance along the
Baltic coast In the Tertiary Age. probably
at least 100000 years ago.. At that time
the climate Of northern Europe was much
warmer than at present. Great changes
of level afterward occurred along the
edge Of the sea, and vast forest were
sunk Parts of tree trunks are sometimes
found in association with the masses OF
amber The gum must huve been very
soft or liquid, when II was exuded, be-
cause insects are often found embedded
in the amber, and the story of their
struggles to escape is sometimes graphi-
cally exhibited. leg or wing being
found detached from the body to which
II belongs.
II il a curious fact in entomology that
the earliest fossil ants known have been
found embedded in the amber of the Bal
tic. These ants, although some of the
genera are now extinct closely resemble
their descendants of today Other insects
flies, some very delicate in structure,
spiders. centipedes, moths, etc.
Formerly amber was gathered along the
shores, having been cast up there by the
waves But for the last 200 years II has
been mined. shafts being sunk through
strata of mari and sand. and beds OF
clay and Ignite. into a stratum called
blue earth" whore the amber most
abounds. This stratum, which is four
or five feet thick. extends outward be-
meath the sea, and the masses thrown up
on the shore are broken off by the waves
from the projecting edges OF the blue
earth below the low tide. The storms OF
autumn are particularly effective in
loosening and casting ashore masses OF
amber.
The pieces are OF irregular size and
form. varying from the magnitude OF a
marble 10 that OF a mans head. and
weighing from a few ounces to twelve or
fifteen pounds There is a mass of nearly
eighteen pounds in the Royal Museum In
Berlin. Although the Baltic shores In
East Prussia possess the greatest known
deposits of amber, some have been found
In many different parts of the world. as
for instance, along the Adriatic shores
in Poland, on the sicilian coast neal
Catania, in clay deposits near Paris. IN
China, and I'm this country, near Martha I
Vineyard, Nantucket, Gays Head. Cape
Sable. several places in North Carolina
and at Camden and Harrisonville. n. j
Near the last-named place a slab of am
her was found an inch thick, twenty
inches long and six inches broad.