OR, PLAITS" 



prairies, and swamps which ex- 

 isted in the earliest ages of the 

 world ; and which, in some cases 

 by gradual, in others by sudden 

 changes of the earth, arising from 

 either the internal force of fires, 

 or the external operation of 

 waters, became buried in the 

 earth's crust, 6, where, lying for 



6 



332. 



ages, and influenced by pressure 

 and the exclusion of the atmo- 

 sphere, it almost lost its vegetable 

 character, and formed those ex- 

 tensive coal-fields, 7, which have 

 proved so valuable to man. 



Ferns, and their allied plants, appear to 

 have been more abundant in the formation of 

 coal than any other tribe. Many of the fern- 

 fossils found in coals exhibit the structure of 

 plants closely allied to those now living, and it 

 in probable that the great fe - n forests of Van 

 Dieman's Land and New Zealand bear some 

 resemblance to the great forests which were 

 the foundation of our coal-Seids. In coal-beds 



8 



333. 



there are found beautiful impressions of fern- 

 leaves, detached trunks and roots, cones and 



TEACHING-. 79 



nuts, and a few fragments of flowers and fruits. 

 Dr Buckland has given a very vivid descrip- 

 tion of what may be called the fossil forests. 

 He says: "The finest example I have ever 

 witnessed is that of the coal-mines of Bohemia. 

 The most elaborate imitations of living foliage 

 upon the painted ceilings of Italian palaces, 

 bear no comparison with the beauteous pro- 

 fusion of extinct vegetable forms with which 

 the galleries of these instructive coal-mines 

 are overhung. The roof is covered as with a 

 canopy of gorgeous tapestry, enriched with fes- 

 toous of the most graceful foliage, 8, strung in 

 wild and irregular profusion over every por- 

 tion of its surface. The effect is heightened 

 by .he contrast of the coal-black colour of 

 these vegetables with the light groundwork 

 of the rock to which they are attached. 

 The spectator feels himself transported, as if 

 by enchantment, into the forests of another 

 world ; he beholds trees of forms and charac- 

 ters now unknown upon the surface of the 

 earth, presented to the senses almost in the 

 beauty and vigour of their primeval life ; their 

 scaly stems and bending branches, with their 

 delicate apparatus of foliage, are all spread 

 forth before him, little impaired by the lapse 

 of countless ages, and bearing faithful records 

 of extinct systems of vegetation." 



Thus we find that the light by 

 which we lengthen our winter 

 days, and equalize the hours of 

 labour throughout the year ; the 



9 



334. 



light which, from the gilded chan- 

 deliers, 9, of palaces, shines as 

 from a group of mimic suns, is 



