Electrum

Plin. 33. c. 4.ELECTRUM is likewise sometimes used for Amber, or Succinum, which is a bituminous substance of a resinous taste, and something sharpish; if any pieces of it are rubbed one against another, it smells like oil of turpentine, and a little disagreeable when burnt: it is generally yellow and transparent, sometimes red, and other times again whitish, or rather pale; and when it is warmed with rubbing, it attracts straw. ——— Electrum, is gathered principally upon the coasts of the Baltick Sea, and particularly upon those of Prussia. Some of it is found even upon the land at some distance from the Sea. But it does not appear that the old Hebrews had any knowledge of this Electrum. That mentioned in Ezek. i. 4—viii. 2.Ezekiel, was, St. Jerom says, a more precious metal than either gold or silver. The Hebrew word Hachasmal, signifies rather, according to Bochart, Orichalcum.

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