312 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



must depend on the quantity of time assigned for their development. 

 Thus, for example, geologists will not deny that a vertical subsidence of 

 three miles took place gradually at the South Joggins during the carbonif- 

 erous epoch, the lowest beds of the coal of Nova Scotia, like the middle and 

 uppermost, consisting of shallow-water beds. If, then, this depres&ion 

 was brought about in the course of 375,000 years, it did not exceed the 

 rate of four feet in a century, resembling that now experienced in certain, 

 countries where, whether the movement be upward or downward, it is 

 quite insensible to the 'inhabitants, and only known by scientific inquiry. 

 If, on the other hand, it was brought about in 2,000,000 of years, ac- 

 cording to the other standard before alluded to, the rate would be only six 

 inches in a century. But the same movement taking place in an upward 

 direction would be sufficient to uplift a portion of the earth's crust to 

 the height of Mont Blanc, or to a vertical elevation of three miles above 

 the level of the sea. 



ORIGIN OF MINERAL COAL. 



The following communication is furnished by Mr. Whittlesey, the well- 

 known geologist and mining engineer : 



Respecting the vegetable origin of mineral coal, I have since 1838 held 

 the opinion that coal is not due to vegetable matter, or at least the main 

 beds of the carboniferous system are not. About that time I gave my rea- 

 sons for this conviction, in opposition to my previous views, and in oppo- 

 sition to the unanimous authority of the standard authors, on geology, 

 through a periodical published at Columbus, Ohio. 



My doctrine or position was regarded by my geological friends so strange, 

 so heretical, and so far from the science, that many of them, from pure 

 regard for my reputation, begged of me not to publish any thing more oil 

 the subject. 



There is no English or American book on geology, that I know of, that 

 does not afiirm that coal is derived from plants, and this has been a stereo- 

 typed maxim, or axiom, passing from book to book, from the earliest 

 geological works. 



The mode in which this enormous quantity of vegetation was produced, 

 collected, spread out in strata and transformed into coal, has been among 

 authors a continual subject of discussion ; but none of these admit a doubt 

 of the fact. 



The principal collieries of the world belong to the carboniferous series, 

 which are layers of shale, sandstone, limestone, ironstone and coal, having 

 a central depression that appoaches the form of a basin. 



The doctrine of the books is, that all these layers are mineral and sedi- 

 mentary deposits, except the layers of coal. 



The beds of coal, it is maintained, are the carbonized residue of either 

 vast layers of timber, or of equally extensive beds of peat. The advocates 

 of both modes of supply are about equal. 



