10 
This bed of coal has long been considered to be¬ 
long to the tertiary formation, and is so spoken of by 
those who have noticed the fossil resins found in it. 
The remarkable state of preservation of the pine 
wood, and the occurrence of fossil resins in it, identical 
with or very similar to those discovered in the pine stems 
of the turf beds of Redwitz, lead me to investigate 
more closely as to the relative age of this bed of 
brown coal. 
I found that an examination of the plants contained 
in it has recently been made by Professor Heer 1 , who 
has published a fine work on the “Tertiary Flora of 
Switzerland”. 
He remarks that “the pine which Groppert describes 
as Pinites sylvestris, is evidently the same which we 
have in our brown coal at Utznach, and which is in 
every respect not to be distinguished from our living 
pines. The same is true of the birches and firs. We 
have found very few animal remains, but these appear 
to belong to species which still exist with us.” 
Thus showing, as I anticipated, that this brown 
coal is of the same age as the turf beds of Redwitz. 
Stromeyer 2 was the first to call attention to the 
existence of a fossil resin found in the wood preserved 
in this coal bed. To this he gave the name Scheererit. 
It was discovered in the cracks and between the annual 
layers of the bituminous wood. 
1 Neues Jalirbuch fur Mineral, u. Greol. v. Leonhard u. Bronn. 
1846, p. 213. 
^Kastner’s Archiv. Vol. IX, p. 113. 
