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short and crisp. At all times, it is easily to be separated into very 

 thin laminae, or splinters ; especially if it lie exposed any time to 

 the heat of the sun ; which, like the fire, makes it crackle, separate, 

 and fall to pieces. 



" The texture of this fossil consists of a number of laminae, or 

 very thin plates, lying upon each other horizontally, in which small 

 protuberances sometimes appear, like the knots of trees ; but upon 

 examination, they are only mineral nuclei, which occasion this in- 

 terruption in the course of the laminae; and pieces of spar have 

 been sometimes found in the middle of this wood-coal. Though 

 the texture of this coal is laminated, yet it does not appear to have 

 any of those fibrous intersections, which are observed in the grains 

 of all wood. This coal easily breaks transversely, and the sepa- 

 rated parts, instead of being rugged and uneven, are generally 

 smooth and shining, in which even the course of the laminae is 

 hardly discernible. 



" When this coal is put into the fire, it crackles, and separates 

 into laminae, as the cannel-coal does into irregular pieces ; burns for 

 some time with a heavy flame ; becomes red hot, and gradually 

 consumes to light white ashes. Though the transverse crevices, 

 made in it by the fire, give it the external appearance of a wooden 

 brand, yet, if quenched when red hot, the unconsumed part does 

 not look like charcoal, but seems to be almost as smooth and solid 

 as when first put into the fire. 



" The thick heavy smoke, which arises from this coal when burnt, 

 is very foetid and disagreeable; entirely different from that aroma- 

 tic scent of the bituminous loam, which is found adhering to it; 

 but much resembling that of the asphaltum or the bitumen of the 

 Dead Sea. The most shining and solid pieces of this coal have 

 not the least degree of electrical attraction/' 



Notwithstanding the resemblance, which this fossil bears to 

 wood, especially when viewed in detached pieces ; yet the doctor 



