BOGS. 205 



l&ssocks as they appear before him, for here the soil is firmest. 

 If his foot slip, or if he venture to desert this mark of security, it 

 is possible he may never be heard of. In 1772 on the 16th of 

 December, this moss being filled with water during heavy rains, 

 burst, and a stream of black half-consolidated mud began to creep 

 over the plain, it overwhelmed some cottages, and covered an 

 area of 400 acfes to a depth of fifteen feet. Dr.^Jackson men- 

 tions that in the peat bogs of Maine, a substance exactly similar 

 to cannel, or anthracite coal, is found amidst the remains of 

 rotten logs of wood, and beaver sticks. It is a true bituminous 

 coaU probably formed from the balsam-fir during its long immer- 

 sion in the humid peat, 



We have now briefly considered the action of rivers, and run- 

 ning waters, their effect in carrying down to the ocean or lake 

 avast quantity of sediment, which is finally deposited, and sub- 

 quently, either by pressure, or exposure to air consolidated into 

 rock ; that large tracts of country callea deltas, at the mouths of 

 rivers, are in progress of formation, in which are buried the re- 

 mains of animals and vegetables, and in which, are preserved 

 the tracks of ,worms, molusces, and birds ; that by collections of 

 rafts upon the large rivers, laden with stones, earths, and sands, 

 islands are forming, and the materials for future beds of coal 

 collecting ; that peat bogs are how growing, and, bursting their 

 barriers, flooding whole tracts of country, and imbedding forests, 

 and the habitations of men. By similar actions, exerted at the 

 most remote periods, the*present strata of the earth's crust 

 were deposited, and the masses of limestones, sandstones, and 

 shales, were formed^ We are thus irresistably led to the conclu- 

 sion, that however remote may have been the date of these for- 

 mations, or however deep they may now be buried below the 

 present surface, they were once exposed, and over their surface 

 living things moved, and upon it lay the wrecks of organic 

 matter. 



The entire absence of human remains or works of art in the 

 anciently formed deposits, and their extreme abundance in mod- 

 ern alluvium, is a sufficient proof of the comparatively recent 

 origin of the human race. It cannot be doubted that human re- 



