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Ch. 6: Amber

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202                          PRECIOUS STONES.
some traces of organic matter, and about 1 part to the 100 of oxide of iron.
Coral possesses a very interesting property, which, beyond doubt, contributed to elevate it to the exceptional rank that it has occupied in medi­cine, even to the nineteenth century. Certain per­sons cannot wear against their skin any objects of coral without discolouring them, and this pheno­menon is general among all invalids. The ancients asserted that if a person wearing a necklace of coral was on the verge of an illness, the coral showed dis­coloration before the least consciousness was felt of the approaching malady.
Naturalists and chemists have of course inquired what is the nature of this singular colouring matter that is so exceedingly impressionable? So far, the only colouring substance which chemistry has de­tected in coral is oxide of iron, one of the most fixed in nature, and one which, under the circumstances, cannot enter into new and colourless combinations; consequently the problem has not yet reached a solution.
AMBER.
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,
Ch. 6: Coral Page of 296 Ch. 6: Amber
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