RAMBLING THOUGHTS IN A HANLEY MARL PIT. 71 



of apparent trees, others of delicate ferns, quite distinct 

 from the only traces of vegetation we ordinarily find on 

 the sea coast, namely the sea weeds. The remains we 

 find here tell us rather of land than of water. You 

 will notice that the outside we will call it the 

 bark of this great trunk or stem is black. That is the 

 effect of a chemical change, carbonizing the vegetable 

 rind. 



I will now call your attention to something out of our 

 present sight. You see that opening partly covered up, a few 

 yards from this trunk. That is the trace of burrowings 

 in the ground of a curious animal in search of a black 

 substance lying only a few feet beneath us, and a foot or 

 two thick, spread out in parallel lines corresponding with 

 the lines of bedding now visible to us, and to which I 

 have already called your attention. The substance is coal, 

 and the animal in search of it was man. Below that 

 again is more clay, and then another bed of coal, and so 

 on to a great depth we should find beds of clay and 

 sandstone alternating with beds of coal, varying in thick- 

 ness, the whole of these beds forming what are termed 

 the coal measures. One of the upper imperfect beds you 

 see above us in that dark band across the face of the 

 cliff. Although in our ordinary house coal we cannot, 

 however sharply we may scrutinise the contents of the 

 coal scuttle or the ashes in the grate, see anything like 

 plants or trees, it is now established beyond dispute that 

 coal is of vegetable origin, mineralised and carbonised. 

 We find in the intervening clays and sandstone beds clear 

 remains of trees and plants, simply showing that the trans- 

 formation there has from one cause or another not been 

 complete. There is enough evidence left to disclose the 

 tale as to the rest. 



