58 STEVENSON— INTERRELATIONS OF THE FOSSIL FUELS. 



removed in buckets and dried for fuel. Debray''* found plant re- 

 mains resembling burnt straw within the peat, — the Torffaserkohle 

 of V. Giimbel, a by no means rare occurrence in peat. Birch bark 

 retains its silvery color; the wood of oak is hard and black, but other 

 woods are soft, yellowish and shrink much in drying. Debray ob- 

 served in this peat of the Somme valley, some shrubs in an inverted 

 position, which he very properly regards as proof that they did not 

 grow where found. Skertchly*^^ reports that the birches of Ruskin- 

 ton fen are represented only by their papery bark, which retains its 

 silvery luster; the bark of elms is preserved but the wood is rotten 

 like touchwood ; wood of oaks, always stained black, is often sound 

 enough to be used for gates and fencing posts, though usually fit 

 only for fuel ; but the wood of conifers is little changed, that of yews 

 retains the peculiar brown color, while that of firs is as white and 

 sound as if from living trees and the odor of turpentine is distinct 

 when the wood is cut. The Chamo'cy parts of the New Jersey peat 

 is so good that much of it can be used in building and in cabinet 

 work ; the preservation of oak in 'bogs of Ireland and Switzerland 

 is familiar to all who have visited those countries. 



The wood in peat deposits does not always represent material 

 dead or wasted prior to burial. The logs and stumps in the lower 

 portion may be remains of a forest destroyed by advance of the 

 swamp, but that is not necessarily the case with such remains 

 higher in the peat. Trees growing on the surface of peat are up- 

 rooted readily by the wind as they have an unstable soil ; if the 

 forest be not too dense, such overturned stems sink into the pulpy 

 mass and the deposit becomes crowded with stems, embedded before 

 decay had set in. 



Thus one finds logs, in all stages of decomposition, embedded 

 in pulpy matter, derived largely from the soft parts of plants and 

 holding also the waste of various woods as well as abundant pollen, 

 spores, bacteria, fungi and freshwater algae. 



Effect of Pressure on Peat. — Many years ago Lesquereux as- 

 serted that peat has a laminated structure and since his time other 

 observers have referred to laminated peat ; but this lamination is not 



•'^ L. Debray, " fitude Geologique," etc., pp. 445, 449, 450. 

 "s " Fenland," pp. 160, 161. 



