don Exhibition,
and it is said that in China, amber containing insects is of frequent
occurrence. From the fact that amber and fossil wood have been found in
alluvial deposits of sand and clay, and associated with ocean shale and
iron pyrites, at a depth of sixty feet, it is the author's firm belief
that the marine amber is a subsequent formation to the terrestrial
amber. That Pliny already took it for a vegetable production, may be
inferred from his expression: " quod arboris succum, prisci nostri
credidere."
The
different kinds of amber are distinguished by varieties of color and
degrees of transparency. All shades of yellow, from the palest primrose
to the deepest orange, or even brown, are its constant colors. In point
of clearness, amber varies from vitreous transparency to perfect
opacity; some are nearly as white as ivory, which is, however, a rare
occurrence. If there are two layers together, the transparent and
opaque varieties, it is used for cutting cameos. An inquiry naturally
suggests itself as to which of these varieties of amber is the most
valuable. It is self-evident that this must depend, as in the diamond,
upon the size and the uniformity of the pieces. Besides, as all
varieties excepting the white, which has its special uses, are equally
applicable for manufacturing purposes, it follows that the value of any
particular sort must depend in a great measure upon its variety. The
straw-yellow, slightly translucent variety is the most rare, and is
that which the Orientals prefer to all others, and which they purchase
at extrava-gant prices. Every piece of that quality is exported to
Turkey, in the raw or manufactured state.
Among
the exquisite specimens of amber in the London Crystal Palace, were
four most splendid imaums, or round amber mouth-pieces, richly
ornamented with brilliants; the shortest two, which in smoking are
pressed against the lips, were each worth/ three hundred pounds
sterling, and
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