53 
1 . Fossil trees*. — 2 . Fossil PLANTsf. — 3 . Fossil roots;};. — 
4 . Fossil stalks}}. — 5 . Fossil leaves§. — 6 . Fossil fruits 
and seed vessels^. 
With respect to fossil trees, as well as with respect to every 
other fossil of which I shall treat, I shall adopt that which appears 
to be the mode best adapted to excite your interest, and to secure to 
you every necessary information. I shall endeavour to supply you 
with an historical sketch of what has been, hitherto, made known 
respecting them ; to state the several theories by which it has been 
proposed to account for their origin ; and, lastly, to lay before you 
the facts, which later observations have discovered, and the opinions 
which these appear to warrant. 
That the existence of fossil trees was known, in very remote 
periods, there cannot exist the least doubt ; but no rational opinion, 
respecting their nature or origin, has been offered until modern 
times. Theophrastus** speaks of a stone, bearing in its external 
appearance, a resemblance to rotten wood. Straboff relates that 
trees, much resembling the laurel and the olive, were buried in 
almost the whole of the mouth of the Red Sea ; which, during the 
ebb, were sometimes exposed, and which, during the flowing in of 
the tide, were sometimes torn up. This, he observes, is very asto- 
nishing ; since, even higher up in the country, no trees are to be 
found. Eratosthenes relates the same circumstance, as observable in 
the Persian Sea. PausaniasJJ mentions a fossil wood, which was 
* Phytolithi Arborum, of Linnaus ; Lithoxyla, of Wallerius; and Stelechites and Den- 
drolithes, of others. 
t Phytolithi Plantarum, of Linnseus ; and Plantae petrificatae, of Wallerius. 
t Rhizolithi, of Wallerius. || Lithocalami, of Wallerius. 
§• Lithophylla, of Wallerius; and Lithobyblia, of others. 
^ Carpolitlii, of Wallerius; and Spermolithi, of others. 
Theophrast. ITEPI TQN AI0f3N. sect. xxix. ff Strabon. Geograph, lib. xvi. 
Jt Pausanias, Graciae Descriptio, lib. i. cap. 43. 
