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and in that point of land which is washed by the rivers Werra and 

 Fulda, as they unite to form one stream, several mountains succes- 

 sively arise. On the top of one of the loftiest of these, which is 

 about 1150 feet in height, is found a layer of mould of about a foot 

 and a half, or two feet thick, under which is a stratum of yellow- 

 ish clay, of two or three feet in thickness ; and another, of a brown 

 colour, considerably impregnated with alum and sulphur; and 

 beneath these so large a quantity of fossil wood, as would almost 

 exceed the belief of any one who had not seen it. The professor 

 himself at first doubted, whether it was really fossil wood or not ; 

 but it was not long before he became fully convinced, that it was 

 indubitably of vegetable origin : he discovering not only the longi- 

 tudinal, but with a glass, even the transverse fibres ; and by a trans- 

 verse fracture the marks of the wood's annual increase. This wood 

 existed almost entirely in small fragments, lying very compactly 

 on each other ; each fragment being divided by numerous fissures, 

 so as to render it difficult to form any opinion of the real size 

 of the trunks, or branches, which they originally formed. Nor, 

 during all the time which they had dug for this wood, had they 

 ever met with any of length sufficient to show the branches ; neither 

 had they discovered any leaves, or any fragment still retaining its 

 circular form. The professsor, however, saw a trunk with a por- 

 tion of the roots still adhering, fully impregnated with pyrites. 

 On another piece he observed the traces of leaves sufficiently 

 evident. Frequently, he remarks, are pieces of wood found, not 

 merely almost surrounded with pyrites, but so fully impregnated 

 with them, that although the situation and form of the several parts 

 of the wood are exactly preserved, its conversion into pyrites appears 

 to be entirely complete. Some of the specimens of this kind are 

 described as being most elegant in their appearance, but unfortu- 

 nately soon falling into pieces when exposed to the air ; their surface 

 first, as it were, exuding sulphur and alum in a pulverulent form. 



