Ch. 11: Amber, Malachite, Serpentine, Bowenite, Williamsite, ... Catlinite, etc.

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	200	GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES IN THE

	could be crumbled easily when rubbed between the fingers, and in external appearance resembled clods of loam or of stiff soil. They were of a gray or yellowish-gray color, and when burned gave out the odor, and indeed seemed to possess the other properties, of melted amber. But few specimens of the amber described by Dr. Troost are found in the collections of this country; his conclusions, however, are accepted as correct. A small specimen of the Magothy River amber came into the writer's possession from a collection made about fifty years ago. This resembles the Baltic amber more closely than does that from New Jersey. The specimen is a fractured piece, transparent, rich reddish-brown and yellow in color, like some of the beautiful amber from Catania, Sicily. It is believed that further search in this vicinity would lead to other discoveries. Dr. Philip R. Uhler is authority for the statement that amber has been found in a lignite bed about twenty-five miles from Baltimore, but in very small quantities. In New Jersey it has been found in a great number of localities. As early as 1762, John Bartram, in a letter to Dr. Elliot, states that amber was found in New Jersey near the Delaware " in pieces nearly a pound in weight, and fitted to make a good cane-head." Prof. George H. Cook, State Geologist of New Jersey, says' that amber is found irregularly distributed in all parts of the marl region. Marl-pits in every county of the region have furnished specimens, but the finding of one specimen does not insure the finding of others in the same locality. Pieces enough to have filled a barrel are said to have been taken from one marl-pit at Shark River, about the year 1856, but since that time, in looking over many hundreds of tons of marl, not a fragment was found. The mineral is yellow in color, but is not so compact or so lustrous as good specimens of foreign amber. Prof. Henry D. Rogers, State Geologist of Pennsylvania, mentions the occurrence of amber twice.² At Vincentown, Burlington County, N. J., it was found with asphaltum in the cretaceous marl above the green sand. The locality was reported by

	¹ The Geology of New Jersey (Newark, 1868), p. 283. ² Description of the Geology of the State of New Jersey (Philadelphia, 1840).

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