158 REMINISCENCES OF 



one, that some coals contain considerable numbers 

 of spores, like the inflammable objects derived from 

 recent lycopods, and long used in our theatres to 

 produce artificial lightning. Another is that frag- 

 ments of wood also are contained in some coals, the 

 fibres or vessels of many of which are perforated by 

 numerous rounded apertures. But nothing definite 

 was known of the range, distribution, or nature of 

 these objects. So having at this time a little more 

 leisure than usual, I began a systematic study of the 

 microscopic structure of coal, with the intention, if 

 life was spared, of embracing the more important 

 coals of the entire world ; with this intention I 

 obtained abundant supplies from various regions. In- 

 deed, so many carefully packed consignments reached 

 my house, that the railway carriers asked, " Do the 

 " people here get all their coal in boxes " ? and the 

 room in which these researches were conducted was 

 called my " coalhole." I made microscopic sections 

 of nearly all our native kinds, and my cabinet already 

 contains 361 of these sections, classified and arranged, 

 besides a considerable number of miscellaneous ones 

 made experimentally. 



In like manner I made microscopic preparations of 

 all the more important of the perforated tissues just 

 referred to. Besides examining a large number of 

 our British coals, I also studied those of New Zea- 

 land, Australia, South Africa, Japan, Borneo, Sweden, 

 the Arctic regions, with some from India and Nova 

 .Scotia. I have been much disappointed that I have 



