Qo 
FORMATION OF COAL. 933 
consolidated into the black and stony substance 
—coal. ‘There can scarcely be any question that 
all the great beds of coal forming the various coal- 
fields, as they are called in our own and other 
lands, were once living forms of vegetation. The 
remains of leaves, seeds, roots, and stems have 
been found in coal, thus appearing to shew with- 
out a doubt that this substance was once in the 
very different shape of perhaps stately trees, 
elegant shrubs, or even fruit and flowers. What 
an astonishing change of circumstances, to think 
that the matter which long ago basked in sun- 
light, and possibly filled the air with fragrant 
odours, is now deep buried under the surface of 
the earth, whence it must be dug in darkness and 
danger; and owing in a great measure to our 
ignorance about the philosophy of the fire-grate, 
instead of diffusing perfume, emits the most dis- 
agreeable odours, polluting the atmosphere it 
once helped to purify! Most enormous is the 
mass of wood thus rotted and turned into coal, as 
may be imagined from the following facts. The 
annual consumption of coal in Europe amounts 
to more than 33,875,000 tons; and careful calcu- 
lations shew that even if the consumption of coal 
