As a proof of the extravagant value set upon amber by the Romans of the first century, Pliny notes that a very diminutive figure of a man, cut out of this substance, sold for a higher figure than did a healthy, vigorous slave. The popularity of this material was also attested by the fact that in the gay world of Rome the term “amber hair” was used to designate a rare and peculiar shade that became fashionable in this period.[108] It seems probable that this modish shade was somewhat lighter than the “Titian hair” once so much favored, although the difference may not have been very great. A change of hue in amber was thought to portend a waning of love on the part of the giver, as is shown by the following not especially melodious lines from “The Fruits of Jealousy” published by Richard Tofte in 1615:[109] Thy tokens which to me thou sent In time may make thee to repent; Thy gifts do groan (bestow’d on me) For grief that they thee guilty see. The amber bracelet thou me gave (For fear thou shouldst shortly wave[110]) From yellow turned is to pale, A sign thou shortly will be stale. Not only for curative purposes and for general use as an amulet was amber prized, but an amber necklace was sometimes regarded as an especially auspicious decoration for a bride at her wedding, as is shown by an exceptionally fine necklace of facetted amber beads from Brunswick, Germany, made in the eighteenth century. Our earliest authority on the curative use of amber, the great encyclopædist Pliny, states that in his day the female peasants of the valley of the Po, in northern Italy, might be seen wearing amber necklaces, principally as ornaments, but also because of their remedial powers; for even at this early period it was generally believed that amber had most excellent effects in diseases of the throat and tonsils. The peasants of this region were especially subject to such disorders, and Pliny conjectures that they were caused by the different sorts of water in the neighborhood of the Alps.[111] He probably refers not only to diseases of the throat, properly so called, but also to a swelling of the glands of the neck, the _goître_ with which so many of the peasants living on the slopes of the Alps, and in other mountainous regions of central Europe, are afflicted.