The golden-hued amber was called _chryselectrum_ by Callistratus, as cited by Pliny. This was said to attract the flame and to ignite if it came in contact with the fire. If worn on the neck it was a cure for fevers; if powdered and mixed with honey and oil of roses it was beneficial for dimness of vision, and its powder, whether taken by itself or in water with gum mastic, remedied diseases of the stomach.[112] In ancient and medieval times the fear of poison being administered in food or drink was very great, and any substance that was credited with the power to show the presence of poison, by some change in clearness or color, was highly valued. An amber cup was said to reveal the admixture of any of the various kinds of poison with the liquid it contained.[113] The use of amber as a preventive of erysipelas finds a defender in Rev. C. W. King, who writes as follows: [Illustration: NECKLACE OF FACETED AMBER BEADS German. Eighteenth century. ] That the wearing an amber necklace will keep off the attacks of erysipelas in a person subject to them has been proved by repeated experiments beyond the possibility of doubt. Its action here cannot be explained; but its efficacy in defence of the throat against chills is evidently due to its extreme warmth when in contact with the skin and the circle of electricity so maintained.[114] The electrical property of amber was remarked as early as 600 B.C. by the Ionic philosopher Thales, and from this observation may be dated the beginnings of the study of electric phenomena. That faith in the magic powers of amber beads still exists is illustrated in the case of an old Russian Jewess who recently died in one of our charitable institutions. This woman is said to have reached the age of one hundred and six years, and she ascribed her extraordinary longevity to the possession of a necklace of very large amber beads, which had been given her by her mother, who also lived more than a hundred years. The daughter, a few days before her death, bestowed this treasured heirloom upon _her_ daughter, for it is generally believed that the virtues of gems largely depend upon their being received as gifts. In northern Germany, also, for more than a century a string of amber beads was looked upon as a favorite and necessary gift. The writer has seen hundreds of these strings, many of which have been worn for one, two, and sometimes more generations. The beads are round and usually facetted; however, they have been abraded against each other for so long that they are often flat disks, and a string originally fifteen or sixteen inches long will be twelve, and often only nine inches in length, so much of the original spheres having worn away.