Amber oil
Amber oil is a natural product obtained by dry distillation of amber . The manufacturing process also produces succinic acid and rosin .
The crude product amber oil is a thick, brownish, strongly smelling substance that turns black over time and takes on a tarry consistency. In a further processing step, the distillation of the raw mixture with water creates a colorless and clear liquid that gradually turns yellow.
Amber oil was and is used, among other things, as a wood preservative, insecticide and shortly after Georgius Agricola discovered the components of amber during dry distillation, also in pharmaceuticals. In numerous alchemical writings from the 16th to 19th centuries, the use of amber oil, which in these writings is often referred to as Oleum succini or Oleum succini rectificatum , is touted as a medicine against a wide variety of ailments. The family magazine Die Gartenlaube , which was very popular in the second half of the 19th century, states: "... Succinic acid and amber oil are considered to be irritating, nerve-tonic, also antispasmodic, sweat- and diuretic medicines." to help against allergies, infections, insect bites and other ailments. Amber oil was also a component of the Luzien water (Eau de Luce; a smelling water), which was popular until the 19th century. Since the middle of the 20th century, amber oil has been used to preserve the surface of amber objects.
In esotericism , any vegetable oil in which a piece of raw amber has been placed for some time is also called amber oil. This has nothing to do with the product amber oil in the above sense.
literature
- Amber oil. In: Meyers Konversations-Lexikon. by 1888.
- Amber oil, rectified. In: Samuel Hahnemann: Apothekerlexikon. 1st department, 1st part, Leipzig 1793, pp. 109–110.
- M. Ganzelewski, R. Slotta (Ed.): Bernstein - Tears of the Gods. Bochum 1996, ISBN 3-921533-57-0 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Andrew Ross: Amber - The Natural Time Capsule. London 2009.
- ↑ The amber. In: The Gazebo. (1859), No. 31, pp. 445-447.
- ↑ Lucienwasser. In: Economic Encyclopedia. (1773 - 1858) by JG Krünitz.
- ↑ Katarzyna Kwiatkowski: Selected methods of amber conservation. In: Amber - Views - Opinions. Warsaw / Gdańsk 2006.
- ↑ Audronė Ilgevičienė: Amber - stone of the sea, light and sun. Saarbrücken 2009.
