EMBALMED IN AMBER.

Evening Post, Volume XLVII, Issue 82, 7 April 1894, Page 2 (Supplement)

EMBALMED IN AMBER.

In many museums may be seen, in the most perfect stnte of preservation in amber, fossilised remains of plants and animals. The science of Egypt i Q highest development did not succeed in discovering a method of embalming so perfeot as the simple process taking place in nature. " A tree exudes a gummy, resinous matter in a liquid state. An insect accidentally alights on it, and is caught. The exudation continues, and envelops it completely, preserving the most minute details of its structure. In the course of time the resin becomes a fossil, and is known as amber. The history of fossil insects is largely indebted to the fly in amber; and to the preserving'properties of amber we owe, likewise, our knowledge of some of the more minute details of ancient plant structure. The coast* of the Baltic are the great source of the amber of commerce. The fragments of fossil resin were washed down by the rivers from the pine forests of the district, along with sediment and vegetable dehrin. In them are found most perfectly preserved remains of the most delicate tissues of the vegetation of the j period, as well as of insect life. Fragments of twigs, leaves, buds, and flowers, with aepala, petals, stamen, and pistil still in place, occur. There are about 1 50, 000 Jewa in England.