CONTENTS. 



LETTER I. 



RPage 

 A.TIONVL Application of Wealth and Leisure. ..Snake-stones. ..Fairies changed to Snakes... 



Fairies Nightcaps. ..Bones of Giants. ..Thunderbolts I 



LETTER II. 



Vestiges of the Inhabitants of a former World... Lime-stone and Marble. ..Medals of Creation... 

 Pleasures afforded by this Science. ..Animals in the former World, different from those of the 



present 6-* 



LETTER III. 

 Early Existence of these Substances. ..Noticed by Xenophanes, Herodotus, Eratosthenes, Strabo, 



Pliny, Ovid, &c... .Sketch of the History of the Science , 14- 



LETTER TV. 



Opinions respecting the Origin of these Bodies. ..Plastic Power. ..Translation of seminal Principles 

 ...Growth of Stones. ..Terms. ..Figured Stones. ..Diluvian Stones. ..Fossils, extraneous or adven- 

 titious. ..New Terms proposed... Secondary Fossils, vegetable or animal... Fossilia vulgo dicta... 



Impressions... Casts. ..Figured Stones , , 30 



LETTER V. 



Form of the Earth's Surface. ..Mountains. ..Strata. ..Wisdom manifested in their Disposition. ..Dif- 

 ferent Kinds of Earths. ..Alumine; forming Clay, Ltthomarga, Slate, &c. .. .Silica ; forming 

 Rock Crystals, Calcedony, Flint, &c....Lime ; forming Lime-stone, Chaik, Tufa, Marble, &c. 

 Magnesia; forming Steatites, Asbestos, Serpentine, &c....Sulphurets, Pyrites, or Marcasites.. 3 



LETTER VI. 



Pleasures of Travelling.. .Wood-stone. ..Inquiries respecting Vegetable Fossils 47 



LETTER VII. 

 Vegetable Fossils... Fossil Trees... Described by the Ancients. ..By the Moderns... Found in almost 



every Part of the World ; 52 



LETTER VIII. 



Constituents of Vegetables. ..Food of Vegetables 75 



LETTER IX. 

 Resolution of Vegetables into their first Principles... First Step in the Mineralization of Vegetables 



...Vegetable Mould. ..Ignis Fatuus 79 



LETTER X. 

 Peat or Turf... Description of.. ..Various Kinds...Length of Time known. ..Found in various Parts 



of the World 85 



LETTER XL 

 Bituminous Wood...Surturbrand of Iceland. ..Bovey Coal of England 101 



