Burma, amber, gems

A brief account by Sir David Brewster of an unusual specimen of amber from Ava in Burma (Myanmar). Brewster describes the material’s appearance and remarkable internal features, examining them in the context of the physical and optical properties of amber. The notice is of particular gemological interest as an early scientific description of Burmese amber, documenting material from a region now famous for its fossiliferous amber deposits and contributing to nineteenth-century knowledge of the geographical occurrence and characteristics of this organic gem material.