Gems Notes and Extracts Augusto Castellani, Mrs. John Brogden 1871

30 GEMS.VII.AMBER.ALTHOUGH amber is not a stone, all writers place itamongst gems, as well for its value as that it has beenused ornamentally by almost every nation of the earth,from the remotest period, and anterior to every historicalrecord.Feuchtwanger asserts that the Phoenicians sailed tothe Baltic for the sole purpose of procuring amberthere. I am of opinion with Italian archaeologists,that the Tyrrhenians, long before the Phoenicians, hadexplored those seas, and drawn from the coasts incrediblequantities of amber, with which they madeornaments of every kind and domestic utensils. Thisis proved by the vases, cups, spindles, and other articlesof unknown use, collectedthe very ancient Pelasgic cities of Italy.by me from the necropoli ofThe Tyrrhenians, and afterwards the Phoenicians,exchanged this substance with the Greeks, who namedit electrum, r/Ae/crpov.Homer says that the Trojanwomen wore necklaces of amber.which thisIt seems that the electrical phenomenamaterial exhibits were observed by the ancients, sinceTalete, as a result of his observations, came to theconclusion that amber was animated. Philemon andPliny thought it a fossil ;and the latter person said," heat resuscitates amber."Tacitus, having observed that it often contains insects.