ON THE UNIVERSAL DELUGE. 421 



pearances which completely indicate such a change, 

 namely, beds of coal, and the fossil remains of land ani- 

 mals. The carbonisation of roots of trees in clefts of 

 rocks, and of marsh plants in peat-bogs, which takes 

 place, as it were, under our own immediate observation ; 

 the transitions of bituminous wood into pitch-coal, the 

 frequent presence of vegetables partly converted into 

 coal, in the neighbourhood of beds of coal, and which 

 are more abundant the nearer they are to these beds ; 

 and, finally, the chemical nature of coal, which is similar 

 to that of vegetables, go to prove the vegetable origin of 

 the older and independent coal formation. 



Though some fossil vegetables might derive their 

 origin, by being floated to quarters more or less remote 

 from their native soil, as we find to be the case in 

 many islands of the South Sea, and on other shores ; 

 on the other hand, neither the breadth and extent 

 of beds of coal, nor the erect position in which fossil 

 trees and reed plants are not unfrequently found in 

 their neighbourhood, coincide with such an explanation. 

 The plants, from which these beds were formed, once 

 stood and grew in the place where they were buried ; 

 and, from these remains, we infer that they were entire- 

 ly land plants, tree-ferns, Lycopodia, and other crypto- 

 gamia. It also appears undeniable, that the land, being 

 once dry, was, during a longer or shorter time, covered 

 with luxuriant vegetation ; that it was afterwards over- 

 flowed with water, and then became dry land again. 

 But, was this overflow of water produced by a sudden, 

 violent, and universal catastrophe, such as we consider the 

 deluge ? Many circumstances leave room for opposite 

 conjecture. If it is probable that the older or black coal 



