22 Fossil Botany. 



To those who are ignorant of Botany, and only wish to 

 acquire a knowledge of the elements of the fossil arrangement, 

 the trouble of learning the twenty-four classes and numerous 

 orders of the Linnaean System will be spared. Indeed, we 

 shall at present hardly venture on any strict arrangement or 

 classification, but only offer such information on the structure 

 of fossil wood and leaves, as will enable the reader to under- 

 stand what will follow. 



. The structure of vegetables, compared with that of animals, 

 presents a remarkable simplicity. While in animals every sepa- 

 rate operation of life is carried on by a set of separate organs, of 

 peculiar construction^ a few tissues, variously modified, consti- 

 tute the whole mechanism by which all vegetable functions are 

 performed. Hence, for the purpose of distinguishing one of 

 the grand classes of plants from another, only a transverse 

 section of the stem or trunk, or a leaf, is required. The method 

 of arriving at such a result in the case of fossil plants, espe- 

 cially when the trunk or wood is the only part preserved, 

 requires some instruction and a few illustrations, which we 

 propose to insert in our next number. 



For the present, we must content ourselves with giving 

 an engraving or two representing fossil remains of vegetables, 

 and a few general observations and descriptions which may 

 serve as an introduction to the subject. 



Some of the antediluvian plants were highly curious in their 

 form and structure, and must have been remarkably beautiful 

 in their appearance. Others were similar to species now 

 growing, or recent species — so called by the botanist, to dis- 

 tinguish them from those which no longer grow, termed extinct 

 species. The ferns compose the most numerous family of 

 vegetables found as organic remains, some of which closely 

 resemble recent species, though none have been found which 

 can be considered as more than types of those now existing. 

 The argillaceous nodules, or balls of clay, found in some of the 

 English coal mines, the great depositories of fossil plants, often 

 exhibit very perfect impressions or casts of these ferns. In 

 most instances they appear to have been produced in tropical 

 climates. This is inferred from the fact, that in hot countries 

 their nearest living analogies are to be found— though, as we 



