Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 1.djvu/697

Rh A M B A M B G59 Sir Henry Bulvver to represent to tlic Spanish minister that they would do well to adopt a more liberal and con stitutional system of government, General Narvaez imme diately sent the British envoy out of the country. This was the exercise of an extreme right, for which the British government could claim no redress. So, again, when in the course of the Eussian war (1855) it appeared to the American government that the British envoy in Wash ington had infringed the neutrality laws of the United States by endeavouring to enlist recruits for the service of Her Majesty, he was compelled to leave the country, and Great Britain had no just cause of complaint. These modern cases are important, because they prove that no state which respects itself will tolerate, on the part of a foreign envoy, a direct interference in the internal affairs of government or an infraction of its own laws. Hence arises the great principle on which our modern practice is founded, namely, that it is the duty of an ambassador to observe a strict neutrality between contending parties in the state to which he is accredited; to accept the govern ment de facto with which he communicates as the govern ment and sovereign of the nation; to pay implicit obedience to the laws of that state, whatever they be; and to abstain as much as possible from all intervention in its internal affairs. These doctrines are comparatively new, but they are sound, and they may be said to have received the assent and the approval of the most enlightened govern ments of Europe. Great changes have occurred within the last few years in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and tSpain; but they have all the distinguishing mark that they are wholly independent of foreign diplomatic influ ence. The first, perhaps we ought to say the sole duty, of an ambassador is to protect his own national interests and to promote the most friendly relations with the sovereign to whom he is accredited; and experience has proved that these objects are best secured by confining himself to the principal objects of his mission, and by relying on no arts but those of sincerity, forbearance, and truth. (H. R.) AMBATO, or ASIENTO D AMBATO, a town of Ecuador, on the northern slope of Chimborazo, about G5 miles south of Quinto, 8859 feet above the sea. It was destroyed by an eruption of Cotopaxi in 1698, but was soon rebuilt, and now carries on a flourishing trade in grain, sugar, and cochineal. Population, 12,000. AMBER (Gr. &quot;HXe/crpov; Lat. Succinum, Electmm ; Fr. Succin, Ambre ; Ger. Bernstein] is a hard, brittle substance with a resinous lustre, sometimes found perfectly transparent, but more usually of varying degrees of trans- lucency, and possessing a prevailing yellow colour, passing from a pale straw tint to a deep orange. It occurs in irregular masses, and has neither taste nor, at ordinary temperatures, odour. It develops electrical phenomena by friction, a property which doubtless early drew atten tion to amber, and invested it with the romantic interest which attached to it in ancient times. The popular regard for the substance among the nations of antiquity was further maintained by the fabulous tales of the manner in which amber was formed and the mystery connected with its occurrence. The earliest notice of amber we find occurs in the Odyssey of Homer, where in the list of jewels offered by Phoenician traders to the Queen of Syra occurs &quot; the gold necklace hung with bits of amber &quot; (Od. xv. 460). Thales of Miletus, 600 B.C., noticed that amber when rubbed attracted light bodies, and that remote and simple observa tion is the foundation of the modem science of electricity, so named from the Greek T/Ae/crpov. Among the Greek fables purporting to account for the origin of amber, it is narrated that the Heliadas, on seeing their brother Phsethon hurled by the lightning of Jove into the Eridanus, were by the pitying gods transformed into poplar trees, and the tears they shed were dropped as amber on the shores of the river. Hence arose the Greek term for amber, &quot;HAeKT&amp;lt;o/3 being one of the names of the sun god. A less poetical theory of its origin states that it was formed from the condensed urine of the lynx inhabiting northern Italy, the pale varieties being produced by the females, while the deeper tints were attributed to males. In such repute was amber in Rome in the time of Pliny that he sarcastically remarks, &quot; the price of a small figure in it, however diminutive, exceeds that of a living healthy slave.&quot; Besides its application to jewellery and carved ornaments, and its use, partly decorative and partly prophylactic, as necklaces, peculiar virtues were attributed to it. Pliny observes &quot; True it is that a collar of amber beads worn about the necks of young infants is a singular preservative to them against secret poison, and a counter-charm for witchcraft and sorceries.&quot; As an article of personal orna mentation, the same authority states that amber was used to produce imitations of precious stones by artificial staining, a use to which it was peculiarly adapted owing to its brilliant lustre combined with the ease with which it could be worked and polished. The great source of supply of amber in all ages appears to have been the Baltic coasts, from which the supplies of commerce still continue to be drawn. During the reign of Nero an expedition was sent from Rome to explore the amber-producing country, and so successful was the party that a present of 13,000 Ib of amber was brought back to the emperor, including a piece weighing 13 ft. It occurs in regular veins along the Baltic coast, but in greatest abundance between Pillau and Grosz Hubenicken, on the Prussian coast. Professor Phillips thus describes the mines : &quot; Near the sea-coast in Prussia there are regular mines for the working of amber : under a stratum of sand and clay, about 20 feet thick, a stratum of bituminous wood occurs, from 40 to 50 feet thick, of a blackish brown colour, and impregnated with pyrites. Parts of these trees are impregnated with amber, which sometimes is found in stalactites depending from them, tinder the stratum of trees were found pyrites, sulphate of iron, and coarse sand, in which were rounded masses of amber. The mine is worked to tho depth of 100 feet ; and from the circumstances under which the amber is found it seems plain that it originates from vegetable juices.&quot; After heavy storms large quantities are usually found thrown up on the coast at the localities where it is regularly excavated, and the assumption is, that ambcrifer- ous deposits crop up in the shallow waters near the shores, from which pieces become detached during the violent com motion of the water. It is further sparingly cast on tho Swedish and Danish coasts, and occasionally pieces are picked up along the shores of Norfolk, Essex, and Sussex in England. It occurs at numerous localities inland throughout Europe, among which may be noted the neighbourhood of Basle in Switzerland, the departments of Aisne, Loire, Gard, and Bas Rhin in France, and in the Paris clay it is associated Avith bituminous deposits. In England it has been found in the sandy deposits of the London clay at Kensington. The coasts of Sicily and the Adriatic likewise afford amber. The most beautiful specimens are perhaps those which are found at Catania. They often possess a beautiful play of colour, approaching to purple, not to be observed in the product of other places. Professor Dana gives the following note on its occurrence in America : &quot;It has been found in various parts of the greensand formation of the United States, either loosely embedded in the soil or engaged in marl or lignite, as at Gay Head or Mather s Vineyard, near Trenton, and also at Camden, in New Jersey, and at Capo Sable, near Magothy river, in Maryland.&quot;