WONDERS OF AMBER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 16 January 1926, Page 3

WONDERS OF AMBER.

VIRTUES COMMENDED BY GREEK PHILOSORHER.S. Amber is tme of the strangest oi Natuie's treasures. Although its golden glow will never equal the stieen of the pearl, or the beam of the moonstone, it has a charm of its own in that it changes and deepens in colour -with the passing of time. A string of beads, opaque and thick as honey, -will be so transformed in 60 years as to be almost transparent, reflecting the light, and only splashed here _ anti there with the original cloudiness. Warmth to the touch is another of its peculiar qualities. It is a scientific fact that it is impossible to .make synthetic amber, ami the many imitations cannot deceive for a minute a true lover of the real thing. They all lack richness and the smooth "icel of the smi-kissc-d, wave-washed resin of ages. Greek philosophers commended the virtues of amber, and the Romans prized it as a gem (writes Welning in the Dailv Chronicle). (’rai tsvneii oi the .Midtile Age loved to adorn their handiwork with amber of every shade of colour. The pop 11 jar idea that it is aliva .s yellow is not the fact, tor there is amber which is almost white, amber as dark as mahogany, amber as red as wine, amber as brown as cedar wood and amber which has been hidden in the tombs of Egypt. nearly a.s blaci; as jet. Although the finest anibei conics from the shores of the Baltic, il is found iii all parts of the wo. id. even far from the ocean. Good specimen-; have been collected liom our English const, and I here is a story told by an aiulior of the IMth (Ciliary that it was once discovered in London, ••bi-lwcr-n Tyburn and Kensington gravel pits, and likewise behind td. Gi-or q-’s Hoso.Lal, near Hyde f > is!c. {•lies in umber are very curious and i n ten-sting. The insects arc often seen, hv the loss of llu-ir a-v.s am! wings, to have slruggl-il lain I '. In escape. hill in two pie- i-s I lor. •• .smooth and gleaming, a l.n. -|>il l >- - Cud a llv arc hardly spoiled at -'ll. Hrbazaars of Algiers arc i'amon-, in;- Ili - sale of a inosl sedm-1 i,vi- sc-nl cal '-d the Essence of \rubi-r. Il is \«- v . largely used in ihc* making nl many' perfumes and medicines.