Mr. Witham's Description of a Fossil Tree. 295 



From the diameter of the highest part mentioned, it appears quite 

 evident, that many feet of the top part of the stem must have been taken 

 away unobserved ere it attracted the notice of the public, leaving fair 

 ground to conclude, that, when it waved in the winds which whistled 

 through its spreading branches, for aught we can say, a million years 

 ago, its magnificent trunk stood tall and stately full 60 feet in height. 

 Judging from the unworked rock near where the stem lies, the superin- 

 cumbent mass must have been above 100 feet. The stem tapers gradually, 

 and is marked at irregular intervals with a kind of transverse rugae or 

 irregular prominences. The bark has been converted into Coal, and 

 presents indistinct longitudinal markings, with very small transverse 

 ridges. At some of the prominences the rugae are contorted like the 

 coming off of branches of various pine plants. 



That the forms of Fossil Trees are frequently much altered prior to 

 their consolidation, or during the process of petrifaction, there can be 

 no doubt. The shapes themselves, and the circumstances in which they 

 are discovered, often sufficiently bear evidence to the fact, that pressure 

 and other agents have been at work. But recourse has often been had 

 to this mode of explanation in cases where it could not apply, and where 

 one much more easy was at hand. It is by no means uncommon to 

 find amongst recent trees, forms similar to those of Fossil plants, which 

 have been ascribed to pressure and other external causes. Every one 

 who has had the opportunity, and has availed himself of the occasion, 

 must have observed this. The flattening, therefore, of this Fossil Tree 

 is only similar to what exists in living nature, although I am unwilling 

 to believe that to be the case in this splendid instance of early vegeta- 

 tion. The usual way of accounting for such flattenings is by pres- 

 sure, although, in the present case, where the Tree is not parallel 

 to the strata, it is rather difficult to suppose its form to be owing 

 to that cause. The pressure by loose sand, or by sand mixed with 

 water, would act all round the stem, and so would not flatten it ; 

 but if we suppose, that the Tree, in its recent state, was carried along 

 by a torrent of water and sand, and left sticking, as the latter consoli- 

 dated, it would afterwards begin to decay, when the hardened strata 



