Dr MacCulloch on Peat SI? 
With respect to the comparative position of peat and of coal, 
as they relate to the earth’s surface, they present no difficulty 
which is not easily removed by geological analogies. The diffe- 
rence depends solely on their relative antiquity, and it is no 
more difficult to imagine beds of peat deposited under the mate- 
rials which have been converted into rocks, than to account for 
beds of conchiferous limestone, or for the accumulations of or- 
ganic remains, both animal and vegetable, which are found 
deeply buried beneath the rocky strata of later origin. 
Art. II . — Account of the Seven Icebergs of Spitzbergen^, By 
William Scoresby, Esq. jun. E. R. S. E. and M.W.S. &c. 
One of the most interesting appearances to be found in 
Spitzbergen, is the Iceberg. This term, written Ysberg by the 
Dutch, signifies ice-mountain. I speak not here of the islands 
of ice which are borne to southern climates on the bosom of 
the ocean, but of those prodigious lodgments of ice which occur 
in the valley s' adjoining the coast of Spitzbergen and other Po- 
lar countries, from which the floating icebergs seem to be de- 
rived. Where a chain of hills lies parallel to the line of the 
coast, and within a few miles distance of the sea-beach, having 
lateral ridges j utting towards the sea, at intervals of a league or 
two, we have a most favourable situation for the formation of 
icebergs. Such is precisely the nature of the situation a little 
to the northward of Charles’ Island, where the conspicuous bo- 
dies of ice noticed by Martens, Phipps and others, and known 
by the name of the Seve7t Icebergs t ^occur. Each of these oc- 
cupies a deep valley, open towards the sea, formed by hills of 
about 2000 feet elevation on the sides, and terminated in the 
interior by the chain of mountains, of perhaps 3000 to 3500 
feet in height, which follows the line of the coast. They are 
exactly of the nature and appearance of glaciers ; they com- 
mence at the margin of the sea, where they frequently consti- 
tute a considerable precipice, and extend along the valley, which 
* Taken, with the authors permission, from his work on the Arctic Regions, 
vo). i. p. 101 Ed. 
VOL. II. >10. 4. APRIL 1820. 
P 
