140 THE CARBONIFEROUS SYSTEM. 



of coal. In truth, these appearances are of constant occurrence in 

 modern swamps and marshes, more especially near their margins, or 

 where they are exposed to the effects of ocean-storms or river-inun- 

 dations. The lamination of the coal has also been adduced as a proof 

 of aqueous deposition ; hut the microscope shows, as I have elsewhere 

 pointed out, that this is entirely different from ordinary aqueous lami- 

 nation, and depends on the superposition of successive generations of 

 more or less decayed trunks of trees and beds of leaves. The lami- 

 $ nation in the truly aqueous cannels and carbonagfcous shales is of a 

 very different character. 



It is scarcely necessary to remark, that in the above summary I 

 have had reference principally to the appearances presented by the 

 coal formation of Nova Scotia ; though I believe that in a general way 

 the conclusions stated will hold good in other countries, as has indeed 

 been shown by the admirable researches on this subject of Brongniart, 

 Goeppert, Newberry, Binney, Rogers, Lesquereux, and others, whose 

 publications on this subject I have read with interest, and have tested 

 in their application to the phenomena presented to me in the coal- 

 fields of Nova Scotia. I may add, that, in my opinion, the phenomena 

 of the Stigmaria underclays, to which attention was first directed by 

 Sir W. E. Logan, furnish the key to the whole question of the origin 

 of coal, and that the comparisons of coal-deposits, by Sir Charles 

 Lyell, with the " cypress-swamps " of the Mississippi, perfectly 

 explain all the more important appearances in the coal formation 

 of Nova Scotia. 



In the above pages I have endeavoured to state some general 

 results of the study of the Carboniferous rocks which may be useful as 

 introductory to their more detailed investigation. I now proceed to 

 consider the local distribution of these rocks in Acadia, and their 

 subdivision into areas more or less distinct. 



The reader must understand that the actual superposition and 

 arrangement of all this great thickness of beds, are ascertained by the 

 examination of coast and river sections, in which portions of the series 

 are seen tilted up, so that they can, by proceeding in the direction 

 toward or from which they incline, be seen to rest on each other. 

 There is one coast section in Nova Scotia so perfect that nearly the 

 whole series is exposed in it. On the other hand, there are large 

 areas in which the lower portion alone exists, and perhaps never was 

 covered by the upper portions ; and there are other areas in which the 

 upper members have covered up the lower, so that they appear only 

 in a few comparatively limited spots. 



The area occupied by Carboniferous rocks in Nova Scotia and New 



