102 THE MICROSCOPE. 



Avenue, near to the well-known Crystal Foun- 

 tain, a noble collection of woods from our colo- 

 nies, called the '" Canadian Trophy," attracted 

 much attention. An enormous petrified tree, 

 from Yan Diemen's Land, lay at the base of 

 the " Trophy." This trunk was about ten feet 

 high, and three feet in diameter. The exterior 

 was white and glossy, and the interior presented 

 the appearance of opal. On some places of the 

 tree there was a very fine white powdery dust, 

 the debris of the petrified wood. The writer 

 carried away a few pinches of this dust, and, 

 after preparing it by the ordinary process, sub- 

 jected it to the Microscope. Under the glass 

 these scarcely-perceptible particles of dust exhi- 

 bited the organic structure of the tree, and 

 proved it to belong to the genus Araucaria. 

 Though the tree had been completely converted 

 into silex, yet the original tissues are so perfectly 

 replaced by the silex, that they display the most 

 minute features of the original organization. 

 The characteristic disks or glands, arranged in 

 alternate order, exhibit the well-known marks 

 of the Araucaria. According to Mr. Nicol, the 

 diameter of one of these disks does not exceed 



