AMBER TO CURE MADNESS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 290, 6 July 1917, Page 1 (Supplement)

AMBER TO CURE MADNESS.

The ambrine used by Dr. B.irthe in his hospital in France for healing burns, is a mixture of paraffin and essence ol amber. Dr. Barthe is not the first to discover the healing properties ol amber, but he is the first to put the resin to practical use. The ancients had great faith in its medicinal powers. By distilling it they obtained an oil which was supposed to (uro infantile convulsions. They believed that ainbi-r, either worn round tie neck as a charm or imbibed, would elf ccive'y drive away insanity and fevers.

Amber, which is the fuss.ilsed resin of pine-trees, is found in great abundance on parts of the Baltic coast, iu ti.e earth, and often washed up by the sea. It L-; very rare in England, hut ooo.isionally has been found near Loudon. Aime pieces of amber contain insects cud leaves, which were caught centuries back 'fvlien the amber was a soft resin. This lessens its value. Hence the expression "a fly iu the amber. - ' The valuable violins whi-h were made in Cremona many hundreds of years ago owe their beuitiful tone and their perfect preservation to the fact that they were varnished with amber varnish. - , All .sorts' of ornament-; are made of amher, and in tlie middle ages amberhandled knives and forks were cecasionnJly used-. The finest amber ornament in the world is a cup in the Brighton Museum. One way to tell artificial amber—which i'i made of copal, a resinous substince, turpentine and camphor—from tin real, is to apply ether to it. Tf 't melts it is sure to be artificial. Ether does not affect the genuine article.