Amber- History and Value

Amber has been known from earliest antiquity. The celebrated founder of the Ionian school of philosophy, Thales, who lived 600 years before our era, speaks of the property which, above all, contributed to render it celebrated-that of attracting light bodies when it was rubbed. It is from the Greek name of amber, electron, that our modern term electricity is derived.

To explain the origin of amber, the Greeks had one of those graceful traditions characteristic of the young and marvellous genius of that people. They said that the sisters of Phaethon, weeping for the death of their brother, were changed into poplar trees upon the banks of the Eridanus (Po), and that their tears were transformed into amber.

It is to this legend that the tender and harmonious poet of the Metamorphoses alludes when he says:-

"Stillataque sole rigescunt

De ramis electra novis, quae lucidus amnis

Excipit et nuribus mittit gestanda Latinis."

"The juices distilling from these new trees, solidified by the sun, are received by the shining river, and borne as offerings to the brides of Italy."

Chemical analysis shows that there are in 100 grammes of amber 81 grammes of carbon, 7.30 of hydrogen, 6.75 of oxygen, and some traces of clay, alumina, and silica, amounting altogether to about 3 grammes.

This is exactly the composition of resin; indeed amber is itself a resin.

"Amber," said Pliny, "trickles from the pith of certain trees resembling pines." This quotation proves that the Roman naturalist considered amber as a contemporary production. He was right so far-amber is a resin; but it is a fossil resin.

The places most rich in amber are the borders of the Baltic Sea, between Dantzic and Memel; it is found also in Denmark, in Norway and Sweden, in Poland, France, and England, and in different parts of Asia and America.

Wherever amber is found it is associated with lignites. It is nearly certain that the resinous trees which produced these combustibles secreted amber, since it is not rare to find fragments of amber lodged in the midst of beds of lignite.

The presence of organized bodies, and particularly insects imprisoned in amber, was well known to the ancients, and is mentioned by the poet Martial in particular.

The illustration given here (Fig. 87) shows a lizard embedded in a piece of amber. The original fragment of amber belonged to the collection of Kircker, and was presented to him by the Duke of Brunswick.

The amber which is most esteemed is translucid, and of a beautiful lemon yellow; but there are also varieties semi-opaque, and one of a pale yellow with veins and spots of dead-white that is much esteemed.

Amber is worn as an ornament principally in the East, where it is cut into beads, and threaded as necklaces. In western countries it is prized merely as serving to fabricate small objects of art, especially the mouth-pieces of pipes and cigars. This latter usage in the East is justified by the prevalent belief that amber never will allow the transmission of any infection. This of course would be a highly valuable quality, but unfortunately there is nothing to prove its existence.

Lumps of amber are generally very small, but occasionally a piece is obtained of considerable size; as, for example, a specimen of amber in the Royal Museum at Berlin, which weights 18 pounds.