Amber has been placed under the sign Leo, the sign of the Sun, by some of the old masters, while others have allotted it to the sign of Venus (Taurus), to which it more probably belongs. It is very soft, is easily cut with a knife, and burns freely. Large quantities are found on the coast of the Baltic, which the Greeks called in consequence the Amber Sea. In Oriental story Amberabad (Amber City) was a city of Jinnistan (Fairy Land). To dream of amber was said to denote a voyage, and according to the philosophy of the Quabalah the indication was of some kind of movement or change. Amber has been imitated in preparations of Mellite, Copal and Anine, also by a blending of sulphur and gutta percha at high temperature, etc., but Mellite is infusible by heat, burning white. Copal catches fire and falls from the instrument on which it is heated in flat drops, while the general attracting power of most substitutes falls far short of the true substance. AMETHYST “_The purple streaming amethyst is thine._” TENNYSON. The amethyst is a species of transparent, violet-coloured quartz, the name of which is derived from the Greek AMETHYSTOS, from the traditional belief that this stone possessed the power to oppose the effect of the fumes of intoxicants, an opinion not entirely shared by Plutarch. Amongst the Greeks and Persians an amethyst bound on the navel was said to counteract the evil effects of wine. The amethyst is described by Trevisa in the 15th century as “purple red in colour medelyd wyth colour of uyolette,” and in Sir Philip Sidney’s “Arcadia,” we read: “_The bloodie shafts of Cupid’s war With amatists they headed are._” The stone is found under the names ametist, ametiste, amatites, amaethist, and it was not until about the middle of the 17th century that its present form began to be adopted. To enjoy the full vibrations of the amethyst an old custom recommended that it be worn on the third finger of the left hand—a practice at one time followed by medical practitioners—and some form of ancient belief demanded that the amethyst must come in contact with the left hand before its action could be appreciated and understood.