258 
From what has been already said, whilst speaking of the form- 
ation of bitumen, you will have perceived that I am of opinion, 
that in proportion as the process of bituminization approaches to 
perfection, the substance acted upon acquires a state of fluidity. 
With respect to coal, the formation of which may be regarded as 
the grand and important end, for which this process has been in- 
stituted, it would be reasonable, h priori, to conclude, that the laws 
of nature would decree, that the substance which is to undergo this 
necessary change, should, in general, be so disposed, as to have 
secured to it the full eflect of the operation in everv stage of the 
process. But should the circumstance of coal having existed in a 
state of fluidity, be supposed to be not fairly inferible from these 
premises, some increase of the probability of the circumstance 
may surely be derived from a view of the substance itself. For 
whether we dwell upon the peculiar fracture of common coal, or 
on the vegetable impressions which are frequently found on it, the 
idea of its having existed in a fluid state must present itself to any 
one, whose mind has not been prepossessed by some contradictory 
hypothesis. 
From this state of fluidity would result a very important change in 
the nature of the mass. With the vegetable matters which have been 
supposed to have been accumulated by the waters of the deluge, 
a considerable portion of mud and gross earthy particles must have 
been blended; these, however, when bituminization gave fluidity 
to the mass, would, in consequence of their superior gravity, settle, 
and form that stratum which was to become the floor of the pit, 
leaving the pure bitumen above. 
By reverting to a circumstance mentioned whilst speaking of 
peat, and of bituminous wood — ^their eager retention of the water 
in which they had been immersed, parting with it as difficultly as 
would a sponge, and that only on the employment of a considerable 
