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

32 GEMS.as amber resin, which is used as a varnish. Insolublein water, it dissolves in alcohol, as also in a solutionof subcarbonate of potass. Its component parts arecarbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with lime, alumina, andsilex. Of a specific weight varying from 1*080 to1-085, its power of refraction is from 1-365. Mixed withdrying oil of linseed and essence of turpentine, it makesanother excellent varnish.Amber is found thrown from the sea on the shore.It is gathered in great abundance by the fishermen onthe Prussian coasts, after the autumnal tempests of theBaltic.It is also found in China and America; in smallquantities in Sicily and in Catania a very singular;kind, of a bluish colour. Even in France some is found.In Prussia, however, there exist numerous caves ofamber, which are explored by practised miners at adepth often of more than one hundred feet. Theamber of the mines differs from that of the waters onlyin being more brittle, and it is often covered with athick crust of clay.Those ambers which containinsects take the nameof insectiferous amber.The yellow amber cut in the form of beads, eithersmooth or in facets, is much used both in the East andWest as a feminine adornment. In the East it iscalled Karabe, and used to ornament pipes, pistols,guns, daggers, and yataghans.