the Formation of Rocks, 191 



liquid carbonaceous mass, cannot actually form real coal, it 

 must be remembered that it could not have existed in a free 

 state along with the universally distributed carbonate of lime, 

 and could not therefore have operated. I am surprised that it 

 has occurred to no one to ask, Whence the vegetables, that are 

 entombed in the earth, and are converted into coal, derived their 

 carbon ? D'Aubuisson, so far as I know, only asks the ques- 

 tion, If the carbon which forms the basis of coal, is entirely de- 

 rived from plants, or if it cannot have had some other origin ? 

 The assertion that coal is derived from the vegetable kingdom, 

 does not solve the problem, but merely removes it to a greater 

 distance, exactly as is done by ascribing the origin of limestone 

 to shells and zoophytes. It cannot, of course, be supposed that 

 there was a subsequent creation of carbon for organic bodies ; 

 and the conversion of another substance into carbon is just as 

 little to be thought of; for this would just be to cut the knot, 

 and not to loose it. 



I am of opinion, that not only the carbon of common coal, of 

 brown coal, and of mineral pitch, but also the carbon of all ani- 

 mated nature, has been derived from an excess of carbonic acid. 

 This acid had, from the beginning of the creation, a threefold 

 destination ; first, to keep the neutral carbonate of lime sepa- 

 rate from the silicates ; secondly, to provide the atmosphere with 

 oxygen ; and, thirdly, to furnish carbon to coal and to organic 

 bodies. Whence, otherwise, could these have obtained their 

 carbon, if oxygen were to be regarded as a direct creation ? 

 How could carbon, which alone is perfectly insoluble in water, 

 have been preserved, from the beginning of creation, through- 

 out the whole time occupied by the formation of other rocks, 

 until the period arrived when it was required to fulfil its pro- 

 per end ? Certainly in no other way but united Avith oxygen, 

 and in the state of carbonic acid. It is only from that acid that 

 carbon and all its products, as we meet with them in nature, 

 could be produced. We cannot say in what manner its decom- 

 position was accomplished, just as we are unable to account for 

 many processes that are going forward under our eyes ; but, in 

 my opinion, it is sufficient for our purpose to know that it is 

 decomposable, and that it is still decomposed by plants, which 

 derive their carbon from it. In consequence of its decomposi- 



