FEAT. 359 



geologists have overlooked the power of this great 

 agent, as the vulgar do : and there is not much more 

 difference, thus far, between coal and compact peat, 

 than between a tree and the board of jet produced by 

 pressure. It is also as easy to see how the minute 

 texture of ordinary peat should admit of its conversion 

 to coal in this manner, as that clay should thus become 

 shale. 



It is an act of kindness not to examine Dr. Hutton's 

 theory, which produces coal from smoke deposited be- 

 neath the sea. As to the geological position of any 

 coal ? it is a question of relative antiquity : like all 

 strata, it once existed on the surface, in its germs : and 

 the prime enquiry, in every case, ought to be, respect- 

 ing what must once have been, from what is. There 

 are lignite coals, it is possible, as there are organic lig- 

 nites, which have been produced from such transported 

 masses of wood as those of the Mississipi ; but the 

 greater number are of another origin. And did geo- 

 logists attend more accurately to what is daily passing 

 before their eyes, (a task more difficult than inventing 

 hypotheses,) their science would possess much fewer 

 of the mysteries against which I have so often con- 

 tended throughout this work. The far larger number 

 of all the coal deposits are now lying where their pro- 

 genitor plants grew: and their positions respecting 

 the rocky strata are as easily explained as those of the 

 conchiferous limestones. And, reasoning thus, I trust 

 that I have rendered the theory of Coal, both chemi- 

 cally and geologically, as perfect as any branch of 

 Geological theory, and more perfect than many. 



