as
amber resin, which is used as a varnish. Insoluble in water, it
dissolves in alcohol, as also in a solution of subcarbonate of potass.
Its component parts are carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with lime,
alumina, and silex. Of a specific weight varying from 1.080 to 1·08ο,
its power of refraction is from 1.365. Mixed with drying oil of linseed
and essence of turpentine, it makes another excellent varnish.
Amber
is found thrown from the sea on the shore. It is gathered in great
abundance by the fishermen on the Prussian coasts, after the autumnal
tempests of the Baltic.
It
is also found in China and America; in small quantities in Sicily ; and
in Catania a very singular kind, of a bluish colour. Even in France
some is found.
In
Prussia, however, there exist numerous caves of amber, which are
explored by practised miners at a depth often of more than one hundred
feet. The amber of the mines differs from that of the waters only in
being more brittle, and it is often covered with a thick crust of clay.
Those ambers which contain insects take the name of insectiferous amber.
The
yellow amber cut in the form of beads, either smooth or in facets, is
much used both in the East and West as a feminine adornment. In the
East it is called Karabè, and used to ornament pipes, pistols, guns, daggers, and yataghans.
