44 , III. DIST. CHAR. Mode. 



their animal juices. Vegetable remains f f are also 



Amber is undoubtedly of vegetable origin, and hence has been 

 considered, by some authors, as an extraneous fossil itself. But, 

 by parity of reasoning, most bituminous and carbonaceous sub- 

 stances, and perhaps some earths, ought to be so classed, as in many 

 instances, they equally appear to be the result of principles, that once 

 existed in organized matter. It should be remembered, however, 

 that it is not the substance, but the organic form or structure, 

 which properly constitutes the essential character of an extraneous 

 fossil : and when this form has been lost in the mineral kingdom, 

 we conceive the matter once possessing it, as strictly to belong to 

 the class of fossils usually styled native, as that, of which the 

 origin cannot so well be traced. 



Shells and other relics of the sea, differing from the recent sub- 

 jects only in the want of the connecting animal gluten, are common 

 in the less ancient and modern strata of marl, clay, chalk, sand, 

 &c., inmost parts of the known world; but are no where perhaps, 

 more frequent than in this country. Those of Hampshire have 

 been particularly noticed, for the perfect state of preservation in 

 which they occur, as well as for the great number of distinct species, 

 collected together in the same tract. Both Woodward and Bran- 

 der observe (v. Cat. Foss. T. I. part II. p. 93. et Hant. Foss. pref.) 

 that the fossil shells, &c., of that county are found in the greatest 

 abundance, and almost in their native state, the loss of colour ex- 

 cepted. They appear to be most common in Hordwell cliff ; but 

 the stratum, in which they are imbedded, a bluish clay or marl 

 covered by gravel and sand, extends quite across the New forest, 

 and wherever dug into, has been observed to contain the same 

 sort of remains. 



tf Trees and other vegetable bodies are frequently found bu- 

 ried in recent and modern tracts, without having undergone any 

 actual chemical change in the composition of their substance. We 

 have met with such in peat; particularly with the remains of oak, 

 fir, and birch, which scarcely, in any visible quality, differed from 

 the recent woods no trace of bituminization or other change be- 



