180 NOMOS. 



same way as that in which the matter of the sedi- 

 mentary rocks was deposited. It is more easy to do 

 this for more reasons than one. If the coal-seams 

 are the product of drifts, then it is easy to account 

 for the general absence of roots and soil at their 

 under surface, If they are the product of drifts, 

 then they will split in the plane of the seam, for the 

 very same reason as that for which the common sedi- 

 mentary rock will split in the plane. If the coal- 

 seams are formed from drifts, then it follows that 

 their arrangement will be in exact conformity to the 

 arrangement of the other strata, for their formation 

 is dependent upon the same causes. If they are 

 formed from drifts, it also follows that they may at- 

 tain a thickness which is altogether unintelligible on 

 the supposition that their material was furnished by 

 a forest growing on the spot. Nor does the occa- 

 sional presence of trees, or stumps of trees with the 

 roots downwards, at all militate against this view, 

 for there is no reason why these isolated specimens 

 may not have got into their position in the same way 

 that the te snags" of the Mississippi have got into 

 theirs, that is, not by growing there, but by floating 

 and then sinking there. Indeed, this is the conclu- 

 sion which is to be drawn from the appearance of 

 the erect fossil trees which abound in some parts of 

 the coast of the Bay of Fundy, and which are being 

 continually brought to light in large crops upon the 

 face of the cliff as the stone wastes under the de- 

 structive action of the high tides of this neighbour- 

 hood. This is the conclusion which is to be drawn 

 from these trees, because many of them are without 



