122 STEVENSON— FORMATION OF COAL BEDS. [April i8, 



but, neither on those coasts nor on those of the North sea, does one 

 find any considerable accumulations of decayed or decaying seaweed. 

 The search in those areas has been rewarded by the discovery of a 

 few deposits, which suffice to show the possibility of accumulation, 

 while they emphasize the improbability. The ocean bottom has been 

 dredged in all directions by exploring expeditions of many nations, 

 but no trace of a deposit has been found in even the areas where 

 seaweed is most abundant. Mohr thinks that the Spitzbergen coals 

 owe their origin to weed transported by the Gulf Stream. There 

 is sufficient reason for doubting the existence of that stream at the 

 time when those coals were formed; but, in any event, if the stream 

 were existing then and as efficient as now, it could not avail for the 

 work. Robert's^^^ statements respecting the quantity of weed on 

 the Spitzbergen coast do not bear the interpretation placed on them 

 by Mohr. There may be enough at times, if the wind be right, to 

 make landing on the shelving shore a rather awkward process — it is 

 awkward enough at best — but the quantity is wholly unimportant. 

 Stevenson, in 1904, sailed along the west coast for 150 miles and saw 

 very little seaweed. 



In like manner, conditions within the Sargasso sea have been 

 exaggerated. Wierd reports by crews of Columbus's boats, 18 to 

 40 tons burden, have been repeated with the increment of centuries 

 and have found their way into geological treatises everywhere. 

 Stevenson^^- made two voyages in 19 10 across the central part of 

 that sea, where the mass of weed should be densest. The quantity, 

 from the standpoint of Mohr's hypothesis, is utterly insignificant. 

 At times, small patches, perhaps 100 or even 200 feet square, may 

 occur, but they are rare and have brief existence, as they are broken 

 up quickly by the strong trade wind, which keeps the water in con- 

 stant commotion — the surface being covered almost without cessa- 

 tion by " white caps." The feathery individual bunches of weed, 

 rarely more than i foot in diameter, are arranged in lines following 



"' E. Robert, " Apergu des observations geologiques faites dans le nerd 

 de I'Europe," Bull. Soc. Geol. de France, Vol. XIII., 1842, pp. 24, 25. 



'"'J. J. Stevenson, "The Sargasso Sea," Science, N. S., Vol. XXXII., 

 1910, pp. 841-843. 



