295 



CHAP. XLII. 



Coal. 



As there are few subjects in the range of geology 

 more important than the natural history of coal, so 

 there is none which has experienced a greater share of 

 attention. There is no want of materials therefore 

 towards a history of this substance, as it occurs in 

 Britain at least ; since these have been displayed with 

 all the minuteness which attends subjects of great prac- 

 tical interest. If geologists have not equally done their 

 duty, the cause must be explained by those who have 

 had opportunities without profiting by them, where it 

 lias not consisted in the theories which have so long 

 oppressed this science. But though a correct notion 

 may possibly be formed of the geological relations of 

 coal in the British dominions, the information which 

 AVC possess relating to its disposition in other parts of 

 the world, is far too meagre to permit a confident 

 view of its entire connexions. 



The coal of the more recent secondary, of the ter- 

 tiary strata, and of the alluvial soils, is described in 

 the following chapter, under the term Lignite, in con- 

 formity to the division of Brongniart rather than to 

 my own judgment ; as some of that found under 

 basalt, is also included under the same head, and as 

 the remainder, improperly erected into a division by 

 the name of basaltic coal, will come under review as 

 part of the history of the ordinary deposits. It does 

 not form a distinct geological variety; since the phe- 

 nomena by which it is characterized are those of all 

 the secondary strata which are influenced by trap 

 rocks. Thus this chapter is allotted to the history 

 of that coal which occurs immediately after the rnoun- 



