136 * LECTURES 



can be more false or hurtful. Through its influence a merely timid 

 or temporizing policy is mistaken for wisdom, the "fence man" is 

 mistaken for the philosopher. There is another old adage, that 

 '■^extremes meet;" i. e., what to the superficial observer seem to be 

 extremes, to the deeper thinker are often really closely allied. But 

 the converse of this proposition, though not erected into an adage, is 

 even more profoundly true, viz : that what seem to be closely allied 

 are very often real extremes. There is often a superficial resemblance 

 between the highest and the lowest, so that by the unthinking multi- 

 tude the one is often mistaken for the other ; pride for nobility of soul, 

 humility for mean-spiritedness, the serenity of self-command for the 

 serenity of insensibility, &c. It is only in this way that the " fence 

 man" resembles the philosopher_, for they are as wide apart as the 

 poles. It is in tliis way only that truth seems to " lie in the middle," 

 although we are further from it there than anywhere else. To refer 

 again to the fable of the shield : It would have been a poor solution 

 of the famous dispute to say that the shield was neither pure white 

 nor pure black, but midway between the two extremes ; that it was, 

 in fact, some shade of gray or dusky, or, perhaps, pepper and salt. 

 No; I repeat, truth lies not "in the middle," but the reconciliation of 

 extremes in the harmonious combination of apparent antagonisms. 



Now, it seems to me that the phenomena of a coal seam already 

 enumerated prove most conclusively that the coal was formed in situ, 

 as in the peat swamps of the present day. At the same time the fre- 

 quent alternation of seams with marine and fresh water strata prove 

 also most conclusively that the deposit took place at the raouths of 

 rivers. Here are two incontestible facts. We must put them to- 

 gether ; we must combine them if we would make a true and sufficient 

 theory. I believe the more this subject is reflected on the more we 

 shall be convinced that coal was deposited in peat swamps at the mouths 

 of large rivers, and therefore subject to overflows by the river and 

 occasional inundations by the sea. We are to look for analogies in 

 existing nature, not among the bogs of Ireland, but among the river 

 swamps of the Mississippi. 



It is well known that such peat swamps, some of them of enormous 

 extent, exist now on the margins and in the delta of the Mississippi 

 and probably many other large rivers, and that pure peat unmixed 

 with mud is constantly forming in these swamps^, although they are 

 annually flooded by the river. This seems at first incredible, when 

 we recollect that the river water is Iciaded with sediment, and that 

 sediment prevents the growth of peat plants, or at least would entirely 

 destroy the purity of the peat. . But this apparent anomaly has been 

 entirely explained by Mr. Lyell. According to this high authority, 

 although the peat swamps of the Mississippi are annually flooded by 

 river water they are entirely untouched by river mud. These favored 

 spots are surrounded, particularly on the side next the river, by dense 

 vegetation, which, acting as a sieve, completely strains the water of 

 its mud before it reaches the peat swamp. The water of these swamps 

 is therefore pure, and pure peat has been quietly depositing there for 

 ages. 



