100 PROF. T. EXn'ERT JONES — ON COAL. 



had some of the most enthusiastic students of the natural history 

 of the Carboniferous strata and fossils in our own countiy and 

 within our own times. 



Nevertheless a great deal has yet to be learned about the 

 Natural History of the Coal-measures, the order and extent of the 

 special kinds of their animals and plants, the time occupied in 

 their formation, and the geographical and hydrographical conditions. 

 At all events we know that all their strata have been arranged in 

 order, have been buried under circumstances favourable to the 

 production of the various coaly fuels, and then turned up in orderly 

 disorder, ready to the hand of man, and well adapted for his use in 

 this passage-stage of his civilization and development, helping 

 him, when intelligent, active, careful, and persevering, to higher 

 ends. For we cannot doubt that all things here are arranged for 

 his better being, his progress towards more and more useful arts, 

 wider ranges of science, and fitter aptitudes of life, of which as yet 

 we have but little conception. We are still the early settlers in a 

 beautiful world, whose capabilities, imperfectly known as yet, wait 

 until the higher developments of Man can understand them fully, 

 and apply the results to the general good. 



Note. — My Address to the Geological Section of the British 

 Association, at Cardiff, 1891, 'Report Brit. Assoc.,' 1892, pages 

 614-632, published also in the 'Geological Magazine' for Novem- 

 ber and December, 1891, treated of Coal in general, and that of 

 South Wales in particular ; and some portions of it have been 

 freely used in this Lecture. 



