with Remarks on the Nature, tyc, of PeaU 253 



earths usually of the same kind as the substratum of clay, marl, 

 gravel, or rock, on which they are found, together with oxide 

 of iron. The peat of the chalk countries of England contains 

 much gypsum ; but I have found very little in any specimens 

 from Ireland or Scotland, and, in general, these peats contain 

 very little saline matter." (Irish Bog Reports, p. 209.) Ac- 

 cording to Dr. Macculloch, peat is a substance intermediate 

 between vegetable matter and lignite ; its conversion into the 

 latter being caused by the gradual and prolonged action of 

 water.* 



Peat has never been found in the tropics, and rarely oc- 

 curs even in the valleys of the south of France or Spain. 

 Peat, in Ireland, is found in all situations ; on the declivities 

 and summits of mountains, in valleys, near and at a distance 

 from rivers and the sea shore, and in the most extensive 

 morasses in level plains and low grounds ; where it is found 

 50 ft. thick and upwards ; though in these cases, according to 

 Lyell (Princ. GeoL, ed. 4. p. 200.), it, for the most part, owes 

 one half of its volume to the water it contains. The same 

 excellent geologist adds that, on mountainous regions, peat 

 seldom, if ever, exceeds 4 ft. in thickness: this, however, after 

 travelling on horseback nearly two thousand miles in this 

 country, and often beholding with wonder the enormous ex- 

 tent and curious phenomena connected with some of the Irish 

 bogs, I have no hesitation in pronouncing, as applied to Ireland 

 at least, to be a most erroneous statement. On ascending, on 

 Dec. ]., Mangerton, the second highest mountain in Ireland, 

 nearly 3000 ft. above the level of the sea (Carran Tual, which 

 is 3410 ft. above the level of the sea, has recently been ascer- 

 tained to be the highest mountain in Ireland), and one of the 

 magnificent ridges that tower above the lovely lakes of Kil- 

 larney ; — without exception, with their three hundred rocky, 

 moss-covered, well-wooded islands; the dark green glossy 

 foliage of the arbutus, in other places a stunted shrub, but 

 here a fine tree; the various tints of the gigantic-sized timber, 

 with the luxuriant verdure so characteristic of this damp, 

 misty, but beautiful island ; the variety and richness of their 

 botanical treasures, and, above all, their interest in a geological 

 point of view as adjoining the loftiest mountains in Ireland 



* Where the living plant is still in contact with peat, the roots of the 

 rushes, and ligneous vegetables, are found vacillating between life and 

 death, in a spongy half decomposed mass. Lower down, the pulverised 

 carbonaceous matter is seen mixed with similar fibres, still resisting decom- 

 position. These gradually disappear, and, at length, a finely powdered 

 subtance alone is found, the process being completed by the total destruc- 

 tion of all the organised bodies. (JWCulloch's System of Geohgy, p. 130.) 



