FIELD, FOREST AND FARM 



split into sheets and thus discover for yourselves 

 the vegetable imprints there concealed, here is a pic- 

 ture that will show you what these curious markings 

 look like. 



"What do you think of it? Have we not here 

 what seems to be actual leaves, and very elegant 

 ones too? They are spread out with a care that 

 would appear to indicate the work of a painstaking 

 human hand. Yes, these are real leaves, but turned 

 to carbon and firmly incrusted in their bed of black 

 rock. 



"Similar imprints are found in great abundance 

 in all coal mines. Certain coal-deposits, several me- 

 ters thick, are composed entirely of them, the small- 

 est chip that one splits off bearing on each face the 

 markings of foliage. The whole is nothing but an 

 accumulation of leaves and broken tree-trunks. An 

 entire forest, heaped up in one pile, would not pre- 

 sent an equal mass. Thus it is demonstrated that 

 in coal are preserved the remains of ancient vege- 

 tation. 



"During great floods the rivers of former ages 

 swept away in enormous masses the trees they had 

 uprooted along the banks, together with the foliage 

 washed into the current by the heavy rains ; then all 

 this refuse was deposited in the mud at the river's 

 mouth, or in some lake or bay. Thus were amassed 

 here and there, under the water, during a long series 

 of centuries, the remains of primitive forests. 



"Fine clay became packed about these masses, 

 molding itself with delicate accuracy around even the 



