78 Intelligence and Miscellaneous Articles. 



portion of coal has been more than one half! This but imperfect 

 description of the section of measures will convey to the reader but 

 an inadequate idea of their frequent changes and respective natures; 

 it will merely serve to show the kind of formation actually existing 

 here; — they must be seen to be properly appreciated. Some of the 

 disciples of Mr. Smith's school thought well, at the commencement 

 of my undertaking, publicly to announce, that I should not come 

 upon these coal-measures before I had penetrated the ponderous 

 series of lias, red-marl, and sand strata intervening between this 

 spot and the north-western coal districts; founding their assertions 

 upon Mr. Smith's hypothesis of the vast ranges of strata delineated 

 on his Geological Map of England, taking a regular and continuous 

 dip, " stratum super stratum," to the eastward. Now, though it be 

 unquestionably true that the prevailing dip of the strata of Great 

 Britain is to the east, it is nevertheless equally true that such de- 

 clivity is but of a partial or local nature. To this now generally 

 received opinion, I may adduce one entertained by Mr. Williams 

 upon the subject (vol. ix. p. 86.): — "In all my perambulations and 

 researches," he says, " I have never been able to trace any particu- 

 lar class of strata for any considerable extent ; for two or three hun- 

 dred yards, or two or three hundred miles, are both small compared 

 with the circumference of the earth. I once took it for granted, as 

 many do, that every stratwm was a zone ; but on more accurate ex- 

 amination, both in the Highlands and Lowlands, I corrected my 

 error; and now frequent observation and experience have convinced 

 me that there is no such thing as a very long stretch of the same 

 strata." 



However this may be, it is well known that modern geologists 

 determine the geographical extent of particular strata by the fossil 

 exuviae they respectively contain, and, moreover, that such fossil 

 remains give a determinate and peculiar character to the strata in 

 which they are imbedded. With reference to this subject, I have 

 to state that in the very centre of that vast range of strata denomi- 

 nated " lias," (but on the spot I have described as containing an 

 apparently insulated mass or patch of the coal formation,) I have 

 recently discovered, from eleven to sixteen feet from the surface, 

 and below two regular strata of iron-stone, a vast number of fossil 

 fruitSy of different species, and accompanied with a variety of other 

 vegetable remains, but which remains are in such an "imperfect 

 state that no characters can be given of them : the fruits are re- 

 spectively distinguished by the most marked and perfect characters 

 of their original organization. I may enumerate the following as 

 being particularly distinguishable: viz. fruit resembling a large wal- 

 nut, partly enveloped in the outer husk, the shell and kernel pre- 

 senting very evident characters of resemblance; several others of 

 this kind, mostly inclosed in the green or outer rind ; another, like a 

 peach or nectarine, with stone in the centre ; the top of a pear; one 

 similar to an orange, in a very perfect state of preservation, show- 

 ing the rind and quarters ; small nut; fir-apples, and other fruits of 



