השמל, Ezek. i, 4, 27; viii, 2. The amber is a hard inflammable
bitumen. When rubbed it is highly endowed with that remarkable property
called electricity, a word which the moderns have formed from its Greek
name ἠλέκτρον. But the ancients had also a mixed metal of fine copper
and silver, resembling the amber in colour, and called by the same name.
From the version of Ezekiel i, 4, by the LXX, Καὶ ἐν τῷ μέσω ἀυτου ὡς
ὅρασις ἠλεκτρȣ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ϖυρὸς, “And in the midst of it as the
appearance of electrum in the midst of the fire,” it appears that those
translators by ἠλέκτρον, could not mean amber, which grows dim as soon
as it feels the fire, and quickly dissolves into a resinous or pitchy
substance; but the mixed metal above mentioned, which is much celebrated
by the ancients for its beautiful lustre, and which, when exposed to the
fire like other metals, grows more bright and shining. St. Jerom,
Theodoret, St. Gregory and Origen think, that, in the above cited
passages from Ezekiel, a precious and highly polished metal is meant.
bitumen. When rubbed it is highly endowed with that remarkable property
called electricity, a word which the moderns have formed from its Greek
name ἠλέκτρον. But the ancients had also a mixed metal of fine copper
and silver, resembling the amber in colour, and called by the same name.
From the version of Ezekiel i, 4, by the LXX, Καὶ ἐν τῷ μέσω ἀυτου ὡς
ὅρασις ἠλεκτρȣ ἐν μέσῳ τοῦ ϖυρὸς, “And in the midst of it as the
appearance of electrum in the midst of the fire,” it appears that those
translators by ἠλέκτρον, could not mean amber, which grows dim as soon
as it feels the fire, and quickly dissolves into a resinous or pitchy
substance; but the mixed metal above mentioned, which is much celebrated
by the ancients for its beautiful lustre, and which, when exposed to the
fire like other metals, grows more bright and shining. St. Jerom,
Theodoret, St. Gregory and Origen think, that, in the above cited
passages from Ezekiel, a precious and highly polished metal is meant.