90 



OLAT3EN AIsD POVELSEnV 



There is no doubt whatever that this surtarbrand, or ebony,, 

 was formerly a species of wood, and that there consequently 

 existed a forest of it in the vicinity where it is found. That it is 

 a wood, is evidently proved from its filaments, buttons, and 

 branches ; and no one can venture to assert that it is merely a 

 sport or production of nature. All that remains to be ascertained 

 is, how these forests became the newel of the mountains, or the 

 bed on which repose such enormous masses of rock and entire 

 chains of hills ; or how their transmutation into so different a 

 substance from what this w ood must have been in its origin, 

 could have been effected. Many arguments might be brought 

 forward in this respect, particularly when we consider the situ- 

 ation, height, and component parts of the different mountains t 

 indeed this ebony may be found in such as do not offer the least 

 vestige of volcanic eruptions ; but in the latter situations it ig 

 ranged without order, and the strata are of trivial extent. In 

 nearly ail these rocks are found fragments of volcanic strata., 

 which have been melted either in part or entirely : these frag- 

 ments are accompanied with small lava-pebbles, shore-flints, &c^ 

 in strata of vegetable mould. Some of the fragments of lava are 

 perceptible in rocks w here there is no petrified wood* as well as 

 in those which contain that substance, but they are then commonly 

 found in the upper part. We have no doubt that all these ex- 

 traordinary effects have proceeded from some terrible subversion ; 

 and even that there must have been three successive shocks, each 

 of which has deposited one of the strata of wood which may now 

 be so distinctly remarked. These shocks, as well as many others 

 of equal extent and importance, must have proceeded from fire 

 and water excited and put in action by the effects of the air ; 

 there must also have been three overthrows, or complete sub- 

 versions, in order to accumulate the three enormous masses of 

 rock, and to form a colossal w r all so even and wonderful in its- 

 structure. 



With respect to the change which this wood has undergone by 

 becoming totally black, and in substance like horn, it is wel[ 

 known that similar effects of nature have been observed in other 

 parts of the world. Mummies have been preserved for thou- 

 sands of years, partly by bitumen, and partly by means of 

 exsiccation; and in mines and spots that have given way we 

 often meet with carcases, wood, and other objects which have 

 not undergone the least alteration, because they had imbibed: 

 a mineral juice which has embalmed and hardened them, so 

 as to preserve them entire as long as they are not exposed to the 

 action of the air. It has been discovered, that vitriolic acid is one 

 of the best agents for preventing bodies from corruption; and 

 the ebony has probably acquired its hardness from being ex~ 



