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Amber.
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Large
quantities of Prussian Amber are sent to Breslau, Odessa, and
Constantinople. Amber forms an important industry not only in Dantzic,
Königsberg, Stolpe, and Lübeck, but in Vienna, Constantinople, and
Catania, in Sicily. It is notable that the Sicilian Amber possesses a
peculiar opalescence, or even fluorescence—presenting a difference of tint according as it is viewed by transmitted or by reflected light.
Necklaces
and bracelets of Amber are sent to Egypt and India, and the meanest
Turk seeks a piece of it for his pipe, not only because it is pleasant
to the lip, but because he has a belief that it will preserve him from
inhaling pestilence.
Amber
is very fashionable for cigarette cases, match and stamp boxes, and
other objects set with gems, which make extremely beautiful presents.
It is almost impossible to obtain pieces of Amber large enough for
ladies' card-cases or gentlemen's cigar cases.
Amber
was much valued by the Ancients, and we find it mentioned as early as
the time of Ezekiel (Ez, c. i., v. 4). It was particularly prized by
the Romans. From the second Imperial epoch down to the middle of the
fourteenth century, Amber was cut into knives and one-pronged forks,
which the princes and great church dignitaries used for cutting up
various kinds of fruits and vegetables, especially their esculent
fungoids — mushrooms, and the like. It was, and still is, more valuable
than gold. The Greeks very early received from the Phoenicians chains
made of Amber, both for the neck and arms, and it is mentioned in
connection with heathen mythology from very ancient times.
According to the legend, the sisters of Phaeton, mourning and weeping at his unhappy end, attracted the
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