FOSSIL CONIFERS. 363 



light of day, and a second time committed to the waters, 

 it has, by the aid of navigation, been conveyed to the scene 

 of its next and most considerable change by fire ; a change 

 during which it becomes subservient to the most important 

 wants and conveniences of Man. In this seventh stage of 

 its long eventful history, it seems to the vulgar eye to un- 

 dergo annihilation ; its Elements are indeed released from 

 the mineral combinations they have maintained for ages, 

 but their apparent destruction is only the commencement 

 of new successions of change and of activity. Set free 

 from their long imprisonment, they return to their native 

 Atmosphere, from which they were absorbed to take part 

 in the primeval vegetation of the Earth. To-morrow, they 

 may contribute to the substance of timber, in the Trees of 

 our existing forests ; and having for a while resumed their 

 place in the living vegetable kingdom, may, ere long be ap- 

 plied a second time to the use and benefit of man. And 

 when decay or fire shall once more consign them to the 

 earth, or to the atmosphere, the same Elements will enter 

 on some farther department, of their perpetual ministration, 

 in the economy of the material world. 



Fossil ConifercB.* 



The Coniferse form a large and very important tribe 

 among living plants, which are characterized, not only by 

 peculiarities in their fructification (as Gymnospermous pha- 

 ncrogamicsif) but also by certain remarkable arrangements 



* See PL 1. Figs. 1. 31. 32. 69. 



t We owe to Mr. Brown, the important discover)', that Coniferae and Cy- 

 cadese are the only two families of plants that have their seeds originally 

 naked, and not enclosed within an Ovary. (See Appendix to Captain King's 

 Voyage to Australia.) They have for this reason been arranged in a 

 distinct order, as Gymnosjpermous PhanerogainicB. This peculiarity in the 

 Ovulum is accompanied throughout both these families, by peculiarities in 

 the internal structure of their stems, in which they differ from almost all 

 dicotyledonous plants, and in some respects also from each other. 



