THE BOG. 151 



thought, at one time, to have been brought down 

 by some mighty river in its original condition, and 

 to have been deposited at the bottom of a lake, 

 where, having passed through various stages of 

 decomposition, it assumed its present form. It is 

 now, I believe, considered to be composed of an 

 assemblage of plants of various kinds which grew 

 and decayed in the spot where their remains still 

 continue ; but by what process these became covered 

 by a bed of rock, and by what subsequent opera- 

 tion of nature beds of coal and stone were de- 

 posited above, are questions which no one has 

 satisfactorily solved. That water was in some way 

 a powerful instrument in producing these pheno- 

 mena, cannot be denied, since the skeletons of fish, 

 and remains of other aquatic animals, are frequently 

 found in the overlying rocks. In the coal itself 

 are frequently found impressions of various kinds 

 of plants, quite distinct from any which are now 

 found growing in the same latitudes, but bearing 

 a striking similarity in their construction to the 

 plants of tropical countries. Not only stems and 

 leaves have been discovered, but even fruits have 

 been detected in such a state of preservation, that 

 Botanists have reduced them to their proper orders, 

 having been able to distinguish and describe their 

 peculiar characters. This subject, however, is 

 connected with Geology, rather than with Botany ; 

 and I mention it here, not so much with the 

 intention of tracing any analogy between the 

 formation of coal and peat, as to show that plants 

 may be altered in their character, even more 

 than when converted into the latter substance, 

 and yet be traced with certainty to a vegetable 

 origin. 



