528 STEVENSON— THE FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. [^'^v. u 



clip from the beginning. Fayol regards 'this as an astonishing ex- 

 hibition of inconsistency on Lyell's part, since the facts contradict 

 Lyell's conclusions respecting original horizontality. The reader 

 can determine for himself, by consulting the original work, how 

 much reason exists for this exultation. 



Fayol examines the facts. He asserts that Steno generalized 

 after having examined only the alluvial deposits. The arrangement 

 of pebbles parallel to the bedding is no proof of original hori- 

 zontality ; the slight average slope of the ocean bottom has no bear- 

 ing on deposits upon lake bottoms, for the latter often have a com- 

 paratively steep slope. The average of the Mediterranean bottom is 

 slight, yet deposits at the mouth of the Var have a dip of 25 to 30 

 degrees. Beds of vegetable matter are buried in the depths of 

 present deltas, and these have been considered as beds formed on 

 the surface above sea-level and carried down by subsidence, in some 

 cases, to a depth of 150 meters; but geologists have reasoned 

 erroneously from local accumulations of mud and peat in certain 

 deltas, for from those they have reasoned to accumulations of hun- 

 dreds of meters and to widespread oscillations of the surface. In 

 fine, he accepts de Lapparent's conclusions respecting the stability 

 of the earth's crust and fortifies his position by a long citation from 

 that author. He is convinced that he has destroyed two errors: 

 that the vegetable accumulations in delta deposits were of local 

 origin at the surface ; that alternations of freshwater and marine 

 deposits are evidence of oscillation of the surface. 



It is certain that no one can doubt the accuracy of Fayol's re- 

 corded personal observations and many of his conclusions are in 

 full accord with those of other observers in the same field during 

 the last half century. But one must hesitate before accepting some 

 of the broader generalizations ; they are clearly based on observa- 

 tions within too limited areas and apparently on a not wholly clear 

 understanding of what observers elsewhere have recorded. His 

 experiments on sedimentation were ingenious, were executed with 

 great skill and perseverance ; they excel, in all respects, the earlier 

 investigations by Rozet, Wegmann, Constant-Prevost and others, 

 yet, in reading the record, one is reminded of Hebert's remark that 



