COAL. 143 



earth also was in more violent action than no\v, occasional 



inundations took place, and sands, sediments, etc., were depo- 



ilions in whi'-h we now tind t!i. 'in, between and 



the coal beds. Taking into account the vast thickness of 



many coal hods, and the vast (quantity of vegetation that would 



;uired to form them, we an: inclined to believe it possible 



that some may have been formed from deposits of vegetable 



soil, or matter, independent of vegetable growth. 



The process which the material undergoes to form coal we 

 will now state briefly. 



The first fallacy of Prof. Rogers is that there is any internal 

 firo at all, and this we prove in another chapter. The next is 

 that vegetation, even although soaked by mineral oil, could by 

 any manner of baking whatever bo converted into coal. AVe 

 assert that the whole process was merely one of petrifaction 

 As the vegetable deposits were gradually covered over, they 

 would be saturated with the mineral emanations, solutions, and 

 gases, which are continually being formed in the interior of the 

 earth, then, by the chemical action between the two substances, 

 the vegetable matter would thus be thoroughly combined with 

 the others. After a time this would merely harden or petrify 

 into coal. Neither fire nor a baking operation, or pressure, were 

 therefore required. It may be asked, how is it, when the 

 prairies are level, that seams of coal are always found lying 

 at an angle? Because by the mineral gases and solutions 

 p.'trifying (he vegetable deposits, the escape into the atmos- 

 phere of other accumula %>m below is stopped, and 

 in consequence, a force is generated which causes an earthquake. 

 This throws the whole field into the position in which we 

 usually find it. These positions allow a free escape of the ever 



