66 THE WONDERS OF GEOLOGY. Lect. I. 



the areas of ancient forests of oak and pine ; and that the 

 fall of trees from the effect of storms, or natural decay, by 

 obstructing the draining of a district, and thus giving rise 

 to a marsh, is the origin of most of these deposits ; mosses, 

 and other marsh plants, spring up, and soon overwhelm 

 and bury the prostrate trees ; hence the occurrence of 

 trunks and branches of oaks, firs, &c. with their fruits. 

 De Luc states, that the sites of many of the aboriginal 

 forests on the continent are now covered by mosses and 

 fens, and that many of these changes are attributable to the 

 destruction of the woods by the Eomans. 



A remarkable circumstance relating to peat bogs must not 

 be omitted, namely, the occasional occurrence of the bodies 

 of men and animals, in a high state of preservation, at a 

 great depth. In some instances the bodies are converted 

 into a fatty substance resembling spermaceti, and which is 

 called adipocire. 



27. Coal in peat. — A fact of considerable geological 

 interest is the occurrence of coal in peat bogs, since it 

 proves that the conversion of vegetable matter into a 

 mineral, the origin of which, but a few years since, was 

 deemed questionable, takes place at the present time, when 

 circumstances are favourable for the production of the 

 bituminous fermentation. In Limerick, in the district of 

 Maine, one of the States of North America, there are peat 

 bogs of considerable extent, in which a substance exactly 

 similar to cannel coal is found at the depth of three or four 

 feet from the surface, amidst the remains of rotten logs of 

 wood and beaver-sticks: the peat is twenty feet thick, and 

 rests upon white sand. This coal was discovered on digging 

 a ditch to drain a portion of the bog, for the purpose of 

 obtaining peat for manure.* The substance is a true 

 bituminous coal, containing more bitumen than is found in 



* Dr. Jackson, on the Geology of Maine. 



