252 Mr. Fairholme on the Coal Strata. 



English geologist well acquainted with the coal-fields of his 

 own country, and the lignite formation in different parts of 

 Europe." p. 173. 



The singular anomaly here presented to the geologist power- 

 fully supports the argument which naturally arises from the 

 specimens of vertical trees, to which allusion has just been 

 made. According to geological theories, such deposits of ve- 

 getable matter, accompanied by micaceous sandstones and shales 9 

 were formed long previous to the creation of such mammalia 

 as are here described*; and yet we have only to suppose the 

 highly probable existence of vertical trees in this coal basin of 

 Alpnach, such as are elsewhere found in similar localities, to 

 perceive the rapidity of this formation also, and that it took 

 place at a period when the destruction of animal life was such 

 as our upper diluvial deposits more usually demonstrate. 



I must apologize for having thus trespassed upon your at- 

 tention and that of your readers; but I cannot help thinking 

 that the facts I have mentioned are well worthy of the deepest 

 study by all true lovers of a consistent geology. My own 

 line of reasoning upon these facts may, in the opinion of some, 

 be open to many objections; but, be that as it may, it must 

 be admitted that a scientific explanation of these phenomena, 

 opposed as they are to the most approved geological theories, 

 would be considered as an essential service done to this most 

 interesting science, and that they loudly call for the learned 

 interference of some of the great leaders of the geological 

 world. I have the honour to be, 



Gentlemen, yours, &c. 

 Ramsgate, June 17, 1833. Geo. Fairholme. 



* [We leave Mr. Fairholme's theory of the rapid production of the coal 

 strata to the consideration of our geological readers and correspondents; 

 but it seems requisite that we should offer a remark on his allusion to the 

 coal of Alpnach. It is not "according to geological theories" (by which 

 we mean the generalizations of facts which have been established by mo- 

 dern geologists,) to suppose that such strata as those of Alpnach here al- 

 luded to, were formed * long previous" to the creation of the mammalia in 

 question : all that can be deduced from the occurrence of remains of the 

 latter in the stratum overlying the coal, is that the entire formation belongs 

 to the tertiary series, and probably the animals were contemporaneous 

 with the plants which furnished the coal. It is new fully established that 

 coal has been produced at many epochs subsequent to that of the Great 

 Coal Formation ; and we may also observe, that no geologist of the pre- 

 sent day would infer the high antiquity of a formation containing coal, 

 merely from the mineral characters of the accompanying strata. — Edit.] 



