The origin of amber is unknown. From the ants and other insects which it frequently contains, there can be no doubt that it has once been in a fluid state: and some writers have thought that it is a resinous juice, gradually modified by the action of sulphuric acid (24); but this is entirely conjecture. The ancients called it _electron_, and attributed its formation to the sisters of Phaëton, who, lamenting the death of their brother, were converted into poplar trees; these, it was said, instead of tears, yielded every year this substance; which, issuing from them in a fluid state, ran into the river, and there became hardened. Amber is usually found in rounded and detached pieces, on the south coast of the Baltic, on the eastern shores of England, and in small quantity, on those of Sicily and the Adriatic; and a substance greatly resembling it is occasionally found in gravel pits near London. The only mines of amber at present known are in Prussia. These are worked in the usual way, by shafts and galleries, to the depth of about 100 feet. The amber is imbedded in a stratum of fossil wood, and occurs in rounded pieces, from a few grains to three and even five pounds in weight. The largest piece of amber ever known to be discovered in a detached state was found near the surface of the ground, in Lithuania, about twelve miles from the Baltic Sea. It weighed more than eighteen pounds, and was deposited in the cabinet of the King of Prussia at Berlin. Very lately a mass of amber, weighing thirteen pounds, was also found in Prussia. For this piece 5000 dollars are said to have been offered; but the Armenian merchants assert that it might have been sold in Constantinople for more than 30,000 dollars. Anterior to the discovery or general dispersion of precious stones from India, amber was considered of great value as a jewel, and was employed in all kinds of ornamental dresses. The ancient Romans were so partial to this substance that Pliny, reprobating the great demand for it, says, the Roman females would give larger sums for a puppet or figure in amber, resembling a man or woman, however small its size, than they would for the finest man or the most valiant soldier. Under the Emperor Nero, persons were sent from Rome, for the purpose of collecting and purchasing amber; and so much of it was at length obtained, that it was used for ornamenting the nets and cordage employed in the theatres for preventing the wild animals from approaching the populace there assembled. It was likewise used to ornament the armour, the biers, and funeral apparatus of such persons as were killed. Amber is now chiefly in request by Greek and Armenian merchants, but it is uncertain where they dispose of it. Some persons conjecture that it is purchased by pilgrims previously to their journey to Mecca; and that, on their arrival in that place, they burn it in honour of Mahomet.