Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . y and Sweden, inPoland, France, and England, and in different parésof Asia and America. Wherever amber is found it is associated withlignites. It is nearly certain that the resinous treeswhich produced these combustibles secreted amber,since it is not rare to find fragments of amberlodged in the midst of beds of lignite. The presence of organized bodies, and particu-larly insects imprisoned in amber, was well knownto the ancients, and is mentioned by the poetMartial in particular. The illustration given here (Fig. 87) showsa lizard e
Diamonds and precious stones, a popular account of gems .. . y and Sweden, inPoland, France, and England, and in different parésof Asia and America. Wherever amber is found it is associated withlignites. It is nearly certain that the resinous treeswhich produced these combustibles secreted amber,since it is not rare to find fragments of amberlodged in the midst of beds of lignite. The presence of organized bodies, and particu-larly insects imprisoned in amber, was well knownto the ancients, and is mentioned by the poetMartial in particular. The illustration given here (Fig. 87) showsa lizard embedded in a piece of amber. The origi-nal fragment of amber belonged to the collection ofKircker, and was presented to him by the Duke ofBrunswick. The amber which is most esteemed is translucid,and of a beautiful lemon yellow ; but there are alsovarieties semi-opaque, and one of a pale yellowwith veins and spots of dead-white that is muchesteemed. AMBER. 205 Amber is worn as an ornament principally in theEast, where it is cut into beads, and threaded as. Fig. 87.—Lizard imprisoned in a fragment of Amber. necklaces. In western countries it is prized merelyas serving to fabricate small objects of art, especiallythe mouth-pieces of pipes and cigars. This latter 206 PRECIOUS STONES. usage in the East is justified by the prevalent be-lief that amber never will allow the transmission ofany infection. This of course would be a highlyvaluable quality, but unfortunately there is nothingto prove its existence. Lumps of amber are generally very small, butoccasionally a piece is obtained of considerablesize; as, for example, a specimen of amber in theRoyal Museum at Berlin, which weighs i8 pounds. Amber is wrought on the turners lathe by steelinstruments, and polished on a leaden wheel withpumice-stone and water. JET. Jet, a beautiful black substance, is in point offact a lignite produced by the decomposition ofresinous vegetation buried in the earth thousands ofages before the histor
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectgems, booksubjectprec
