XIV.] LIVING MATTER AND ITS EFFECTS. 239 



is often fibrous, and is made up to a large extent of the 

 remains of stems and leaves. But the constitution of the 

 mass of the coal is very different from that of the mineral 

 charcoal, which indeed forms only thin layers spread out 

 between the laminge of the coal. If a slice of coal, cut so 

 thin as to be partially transparent, is examined under the 

 microscope by light passing through its substance, it will 

 usually present some such appearance as that shown in 

 Fig. 69.^ This section, which has been taken para,llel to the 



Fig. 69. — Microscopic section of Better Bed coal, Yorkshire. Magnified 25 



diameters. 



face of the coal, shows a blackish or dark-brown mass 

 forming the ground; in which are embedded numerous 

 granules and streaks of yellowish colour. These streaks 

 represent the edges of tiny bags which have been cut 

 through, and which, in certain coals, may be seen entire 

 even with the naked eye. Thus, there is a valuable seam of 

 coal near Bradford, in Yorkshire, known as the "Better 

 Bed," which contains vast numbers of these little discs, each 



1 From a paper by Mr. E. T. Newton in the Geological Magazine, 

 Dec. 2, Vol. ii., No. 8, August, 1875. 



