450 
Chapter XVIIL 
Proofs of Design in the Structure of Fossil 
Vegetables, 
SECTION I. 
GENERAL HISTORY OF FOSSIL VEGETABLES. 
The history of Fossil Vegetables has a twofold 
claim upon our consideration, in relation to the 
object of our present enquiry. The first regards 
the influence exerted on the actual condition of 
Mankind, by the fossil carbonaceous remains of 
Plants, which clothed the former surface of the 
Earth, and has been briefly considered in a 
former chapter; (Chap. VII. P. 63.) the second 
directs our attention to the history and structure 
of the ancient members of the vegetable king- 
dom. 
It appears that nearly at the same points in 
the progress of stratification, where the most 
striking changes take place in the remains of 
Animal life, there are found also concurrent 
changes in the character of fossil Vegetables. 
A large and new field of investigation is thus 
laid open to our enquiry, wherein we may com- 
pare the laws which regulated the varying sys- 
