200 
THE FOSSIL FLORA. 
one of the great means made use of by the Almighty Architect of the 
globe, in absorbing and rendering solid that excess of Carbon, which 
it is believed, must, at the period of the formation of the coal-mea¬ 
sures, have existed in the atmosphere; thus rendering it fit for the 
support of animal life, and, at last, a proper habitation for man. We 
cannot contemplate this storing up such a mass of combustible matter, 
and the iron which always accompanies it in the depths of the earth, 
at a remote epoch, for the consumption and enjoyment of creatures, 
afterwards to exist on its surface, without being struck with the 
benevolence and wisdom manifest in the design. 
D 
Whilst contemplating a bed of coal as the product of vegetation 
swept from a higher level of dry land, the question is ever recurring 
—where was the land?—a question which, as far as we know it, is 
impossible to answer and which might be considered alone sufficient 
to shake the theory of the coal-plants having been drifted from neigh¬ 
bouring hills. We are well aware that this is but one of a thousand 
questions in Geology more easy to propound than to solve; but, 
surely, there ought to be some indication of those rocks, of anterior 
formation, on which this mass of vegetation grew; the surface that 
could supply so much, could be of no inconsiderable extent. That 
the plants had not been brought from a great distance, is proved, by 
the perfect state of preservation of the most delicate filmy leaves. 
The only rocks of the older formation, near to the great northern 
Coal-Field, are the Cumberland group, and the Cheviots; but it is 
certain that the former were protruded at a period long subsequent 
to the formation of the coal-measures; and, although there is in the 
case of the Cheviots a want of evidence to carry us so far up in the 
great series, yet we are sure that they rose, after the deposition and 
consolidation of the older members, at least, of the Carboniferous 
formation. The beds below the coal measures, do now rise, at their 
western edge, to a height somewhat mountainous; but here, again, 
we have proof of a rising, long posterior to the formation of the coal; 
and they are, besides, a part of the series we are considering, and are 
characterized by the presence of the same class of vegetable fossils as 
have, doubtless, formed coal. 
There are three principal varieties of Bituminous Coal, each of 
which occur in the Northern Coal Field ; viz. fine caking coal, which 
is a crystalline compound, breaking into rhomboidal fragments; 
Cannel, called also Splint, and Parrot Coal, which is compact and 
tough, breaking with a conchoidal fracture; and Slate Coal which is 
a mixture of the two other varieties, in thin horizontal layers. 
