f\v 



•^IV 



•^ 



^^e 



to 



til 



e 



^H 





Mhe 



) 



^estro 



strict 



Tall 



■^^.^ "f tk 



atdiff, 



f:.ut 



T 



^Tof 



-iVo from 



ID 



< V 



nri 



di 



in 



.-moss::.al- 

 of the same 

 d t^^re, has 



r»«. rir^i 



strate 



[)ccnr, while 



- f the same 

 with the 



, turn been 



>eeh. There 



of trees,. 



)D 



chan^ 



of 



the 



111 



. .'(i on 

 yore tt^ 



Ch. xliv.] blown sand, and volcanic ejections. 



501 



Sources of 



■At 



bottom of 



mosses 



termed 



oxide of iron, and tlie frequency of bog iron-ore is familiar 



The oak^ which is so often dyed black 



to the mineralogist. 



in ipe^ty owes its colour to the same 



From what 



source the iron is derived has often been a subject of dis- 



& 



seem 



12'th to 



have removed the difficulty. He 



about Berlin, a substance of a deep ochre yellow passino* 



into red, which covered the bottom of the ditches, and 



which, where it had become dry after the evaporation of the 



water, appeared exactly like oxide of 



iron. But under the 



found to consist of slender articulated 



threads or plates, partly siliceous and 

 partly ferruginous, of a plant of 



micr 



Fig. 139. 



Sim 



structure. 



/ 



of the 



GalUonella ferruginea. 

 a. 2000 times magnified. 



family called Diatomacese."^ There can 



be little doubt, therefore, that bog iron-ore consists of an 



aggregate of millions of these organic bodies invisible to the 



t 



'/ 



animal substances in peat. — One interesting 

 circumstance attending the history of peat-mosses is the 



high state of preservation of animal substances buried 

 them for periods of many ye; 



m 



In Jime, 1747, the body of 

 a woman was found six feet deep, in a peat-moss in the Isle 

 of Axholm, in Lincolnshire. The antique sandals on her 

 feet afforded evidence of her having been buried there for 

 many centuries ; yet her nails, hair, and skin are described 



of decav. On the estate 



marks 



of the Earl of Moira, in the north of Ireland, a human body 

 was dug up, a foot deep in gravel, covered with eleven feet 

 of peat ; the body was completely clothed and the garments 

 seemed all to be made of hair. Before the use of wool 

 was known in that country the clothing of the inhabitants 

 was made of hair, so that it would appear that this body 

 had been buried at that early period ; yet it was fresh and 



* See above. Vol. I. p. 644. 



t Ehrenberg, Taylor's Scientific Mem., vol. i. part iii. p. 402. 



