Books › The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871 › scan 170
Scan 170
The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1nymphs, or of the sisters of Phaeton. It is generally found in irregularly-shaped masses of no great size, the colour varying from a light yellow to a deep orange, having various degrees of transparency, some pieces being entirely opaque. The milky or cloudy-coloured pieces have the most value, as the clear semi-transparent pieces can be easily imitated by copal or other gums.
3To the varnish maker the most transparent are equally valuable, as the milky-coloured pieces are used chiefly by the carver and turner.
5By friction it becomes negatively electrical, indeed so much so that the workmen in turning it are often affected by nervous twitchings, and are frequently obliged to change the pieces they are handling. Many animal and vegetable remains are to be often found embedded in some of the pieces, as insects, leaves, &c., specimens of which are to be found in our national museums. When heated it exhales a fragrant odour, hence its being a favorite with the meerschaum-pipemaker; it burns with a yellowish flame, leaving a shiny bituminous deposit. Amber is found on the beach in Norfolk, Suffolk, Isle of Wight, and North of Scotland, as well as in parts of America and India, and in Prussia mines exist of this singular substance.
7It is somewhat brittle, and breaks in conchoidal fragments. Absolute alcohol extracts about one-ninth of its weight of pulverised amber, and in pure chloroform it is dissolved readily, whilst ether dissolves from ten to twelve per cent. of it; it is also entirely soluble in a mixture of alcohol and spirits of turpentine heated
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