i88o.] 
The Formation of Coal. 
81 
II. THE FORMATION OF COAL. 
By W. Mattieu Williams, F.R.A.S., F.C.S. 
%N the course of a pedestrian excursion made in the 
W cummer of 1855 I came upon the Aachensee, one of 
^ the lakes of North Tyrol rarely visited by toasts. I* 
is situated about 30 miles N.E. of Innspruck, and fills t 
basin of a deep valley, the upper slopes of which are steep 
and richly wooded. The water of this lake is remarkably 
transparent and colourless. With one exception, that of the 
Fou*nain of Cvane,— a deep pool forming the souice of the 
little Svracusan river— it isthe most transparent bodyof water 
I re member 1 t o h ave seen. This transparency revealed a very 
remarkable sub-aqueous landscape. The bottom of the lake 
is strewn with branches and trunks of trees, which in sorne 
parts are in almost forest-like profusion. Being alone in 
a rather solitary region, and carrying only a satchel of 
Wage my only means of further exploration were those 
afforded by swimming and diving. Being an expert in 
these and the July summer day very calm and hot, I 
mained a long time in the water, and, by swimming very 
carefully to avoid ripples, was able to survey a considerable 
ar The f fla wEfsSckme 6 Se° most forcibly and at first 
stripped ‘Tbrancts with only , few ot the larger 
stnppea u roots of all these are more or less 
Juried' eS anTthey present the appearance of having grown 
where ’they stand Other trunks were leaning at various 
Ingles and partly buried, some trunks and many branches 
ly O S nd 0 iIing 1 found the bottom to consist of a loamy powder 
of erev colour, speckled with black particles of vegetable 
J thin scalv fragments of bark and leaves. I brought 
up a several twigs and small branches, and with considerable 
n cftpr a succession of immersions, succeeded in 
difficulty, aft thick as m arm an d about 8 feet 
lon^above^three-fourths of which was buried, and only the 
K gone, 
