Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1876 — Amber. [ARTICLE]

Amber.

Of all the getn-like substances used for personal adornment, amber is of the highest antiquity. It is mentioned by Homer, and is found introduced in the most ancient specimens of Etruscan jewelry. In the collection of the Prince of the Canino was a necklace of choice Etruscan workmanship, having pendants in the form of acarabei of alternate sardonyx and amber. The Greeks termed amber electron, from Elector, one of the names of the sun god. Among the Romans also this Substance was greatly prized. Pliny tells us that a small figure carved in amber had been known to sell at a higher price

than a living slave in vigorous health. In tbfi tlm«-%f Nero one of tMf eofffetriap order wto sent to Germany by JAanufl, the manager of the gladiatorial ex hi bitioua, in order to procure a iiupplj pf tills uacceded so welt Knd brought such vast quantities ihattne very nets that protected the podium against the wild beast, the litters upon which the slain -gladiators were earned away, and all the other articles used were stuaed with amber. Sir Thomas Browne also, in his “ Urn Burial," mentions among the contents of a Roman urn to the p-Mwessioii of Cardinal Fanuarn, not only jewels, but an ape to agate and a grasshopper and an elephant carved in amber. Great uncertainty prevailed among the ancients as to tbe nature of amber, and many were the legends to which this uncertainty gave rise. After Phaeton had been struck by lightning his sisters, we are told, changed to poplars, which every day shed their tears upon the banks of the Eridanus, and to these tears was given the name electron. < Nicias says that it is a liquid produced by the rays of tho sun; that these rays, at the moment of the sun’s setting, striking with the greatest force upon the surface of the soil, leave upon it an unctuous sweat, which is carried off by the tides of the ocean, and thrown upon the shores of Germany. According to another author there is a river “ beyond India,” the banks of which are frequented by birds called toeleagrides; these,’ weeping the death of Meleager, allow their tears to drop into' the stream, whereupon they are transformed to amber. A similar belief—that amber was produced by the tears of birds—prevailed among the Orientals. This is alluded to by Moore in “Lallah Rookh:” Aron nd thee «h»U glisten the loveliest amber That ever the eorrowlag sea-birds have wept.

It was gradually, however, made manifest that amber was neither more nor less than a vegetable product—a kind of gfito; hence it acquired the name succinum/by which it is now known in natural history. It was found that by boiling in turoentine it could be rendered plastic, and pieces were discovered in which insects, leaves of plants, and other foreign matter had become imbedded, proving that the amber must at one time have been ip a liquid or semi-liquid state. Wherever beds of lignite occur amber is found; so that it is very generally diffused ovqr the world. But the shores of the Baltic, between Memel and Konigsberg, is the only district that supplies it in quantities. As much as 4,000 pounds weight of amber yearly is said to be the average produce of feat country. It is mostly found on the seashore, but in Prussia there are also mines.’ In Shakespeare’s time amber would seem to have been fashionable as an ornament, as he more than once alludes to it. When Petruchio promises to take Katherine on a visit to her father he mentions “amber bracelets" among the “ bravery” with which she is to be adorned. Among the artists of the renaissance period it was chiefly used in the formation of jewel caskets and such like elegant objects. It is still much vab ued in the East, but the chief market at present is China, where it is crushed into powder and burnt as incense. Mouthpieces for cigars, beads and other ornaments in this material are, however, exi tensively manufactured in the workshops of Dantzic, Hamburg and elsewhere. The electric properties of amber early attracted attention; it was also believed to be highly medicinal, and was said to have the power of detecting fee presence of poison; “ for then an appearance like the rainbow flies to and fro in the vessel, at. tended by the crackling of flame,- and gives warning by this double indication.”' It is still supposed to possess certain virtues. The wearing of an amber necklace, it is said, will keep off attacks of erysipelas, and it is also a preservative against sore throats, on account of the circle of electricity maintained, as well as from the warmfe of the amber.— Arcade Timet.