AMBER, (Bernstein, Germ.; Succin, Cambe,./.1mbre ?aune, Fr. ; Succinum, Lat.) is a yellow-co loured inflammable mineral, divided by Werner into two sub-species, viz. white and yellow, which are distin guished from each other by colour, external surface, lustre, fracture, and transparency. During pulverization it gives out a slight and not unpleasant odour, which becomes much stronger the mass is heated or melted. It cannot be brought to a fluid state without a commencement of decomposition, and the volatilization of a part of its acid : at a little higher temperature, if exposed to the air, it takes lire, and burns with a ye! lowish flame, mixed with blue and gruel', exhaling a pungent, dense, aromatic smoke, ; a light shining blade coal is left behind, which, with some difficulty, is reduci ble to ashes. The proportion of residue ;tries consi derably: ['ruin half a pound of anther, 11. Bou•delin obtained, in one instance, 41 grains ol ashes, and in another 12 grains. Water, whether cold or hot, has no effect on amber. Spirit of wine, by long digestion or still better by repeated distillation from finely pulverized anther, dissolves a small portion, and becomes of a deep reddish-brown colour, forming the tincture ril' Levigated amber, by slow digestion, with an equal weigh• of caustic poem() dissolved in water, combines into thick .saponaceous mass, which is readily soluble both in water and spirit of wine ; with the latter it forms tinctura succini tortarisata, once an article of repute ie the materizt medica. Neither the expressed nor volatile oils hate any action on amber, by common digestiom except this latter has been previously roasted or incited ; when this is the case, it is readily soluble in both kinds of oil, either separate or mixed, forming the base 01 amber varnish. (See VanNisii.) _Hoffman, however, found, that if one part of pulverized amber was put into a glass vessel, with two parts of oil or almonds, and th,• whole inclosed in a Papin's digester tilled with water, the oil and amber in a short time united into a jelly-like mass. Ether has a slight action on amber.
When amber is exposed to dry distillation in closed vessels, it swells, puffs up, and discharges a large quan tity of carbonic acid and ea•buretted hydrogen : toge ther with these gases, there comes over first a colour less empyreumatic watery fluid, with a peculiar, not a disagreeable odour, and containing a little acetous acid this is called spirit of amber: next follows a thin clear yellowish oil, smelling like rock oil, partly mixed with it, and partly holding in solution, a crystalline salt, the acid of amber, or succinic acid : as the distillation goes on, the oil becomes more coloured, and of a thicker consistence, so that towards the end of the process, it is almost black, and somewhat viscid. There re mains in the retort a black shining coal, which is em ployed as basis of the finest black varnish. The oil of amber is separated from the acid, with which it is mix ed by washing with warm water, and may be further purified by subsequent rectification. This oil is used medicinally only as an ingredient of Eau de Luce. Sec: PHARMACY.
Amber, when rubbed, acquires a strong negative elec trical virtue. This property was known to the ancients, who termed amber electrum: from whence is derived the word electricity.
Its geognostic relations have been accurately ascer tained. It is found in ffiztz and alluvial rocks, and is observed to occur more abundantly in newer than older formations. Small embedded grains occur in the slate or oldest coal formation : the greatest quantities arc found in alluvial laud, and there either in beds of bitu minous wood or earth-coal ; or in the layers of clay that are interposed between the bituminous wood and earth, coal. It is sometimes found in gravel beds near Lon don, and near Sisteron, in Provence. It occurs also in detached pieces floating on the surface of the sea, on the coasts of certain countries.