New-York tribune., 1842-04-02
sr,Lyelrs Fifth Lecture en- Geology.
IRepor,ed Tor The Tribune.
ORIGIN OF COAL.

Concluded
Under every scam Of coal in Wiics.is found the
fire clny-:. sandy. blue mud, abcundIns N tAs
plants called .Sagmaria. First Is the seam OF
coal. then the fire clay. thcnanother sean. OF Goa
aud then the sand stone. In enc parto the Mex
castle coal field about 80 species Of Sigi1lor1a
we're discovered The trunks were two or three feet
in diameter. Thcy pierce through the sand in 4
vertical direction and after goingfor some II leea
pcrpendculailv, the upper part bends Iouhu nor
zontallv and extends ateraly into the s;ilio'--'is
then thcv are so lattencd By the suPcrihcat'pena
strata. tha, the opposite barks are forced wiihla
half an inch of each other. lie hntlngs are Deau-
,ifnllv prcseryadi the: hattened horizontal stem
Here We had AN ancient forest growing IN a pca 81
cla,-buried il, some way With sand I" certain
dcnlh and then the upper part was bent and
broken of bv the water current, and buried ~ lal
,.rs of sllale and sand There are many cases o'
Mi, kind in Wales where the roots ot the trees cv-
;dcntlvprcscrvc ll:crori ginn position. Mr. LoGAS,
an excellent geologist. mas cxa.Tilncd no less
,bnn 90 Of the. seams of co;lin Wales. Incv are
20 exceedingly nn that they arc OF but little vait
in an cconomcailignt-ye, they are Just mFor-
,ant for geological purposes, a II they wcre thlck
strata UnGer cvcrv one of the 90 he mas f0ntd
the IRE clay Il sandy mud containing the plants
called ,Sfcma1i0 1t was discovered years age
that this fire clay cxieicd with the coal nine but
IL was not knowlililat 1t the floor OF cvcrycea.
seam and no, the roof, which contained tins plan
in a perfect state. The iSGsmarta appears nlhc
under car to Use tie term employed by miners. 4
cylindrical stent from every side OF winch axtelti
icavcs--roi oniyiromthc opposite sldcs-but IRON
every side they appear like tuberclcs, fitting on
as byo jon They radiatc il. al directions III the
mud, where they are rot fattencd like the ferns.
Had they been we might have had leaves in two
directions but not on every side. These plants
resemble the Euphorbi0cc0 in their structure, aud
in some respects are analogous to the ContcronS
or fir tribes. In their whole structure they are dis
linct from all living genera or families ofplanls.-
In one instance u dome shaped mass was found
with stems and leaves-somc Of the branches be-
Ing 20 or 80 feet in length and sometimes longer
Ii, has been thought by Dr. BUCKLASD and oilcr
gcclogists that ,hcSc plants either raicd anng IL
rllc mud at the bottom Of swarni,,. TO haze
noa,cd in lakes like the modern .Sirotiotcs.
After Mr. I.oGAS had arrived AT this rcmariaIe
iact we became particularly desrous 20 know i
,hc same fact was true in The Uncd States. WIicn
arrived here inAugust, had no idea how far il
was true vet it was known the ,Shiem07ia did ,je-
cur; and my first opportunity 10 inquire into the
fact was n, Blossburgh. in the Bituminous field IN
the Northern part ef PENNSYLVANIA. My first IN
uuiry or the gcologist was whether nc found Stis-
maria there was answered in the affirmative :;
and on asking if the liant occurred III the andcr
clnu, he said we could soon settle the point. He
lad ono of the mines lighted up. and tho only pont
me could find IN the nndea clayw0Sihls Stigma
ria : it existed in abundance-its leaves radiat!n.
in all directions, Just as in Wales more than 1000
miles distant The same crrtal appearance was
preserved In the roof Of the coal sears were see,
different species Of t.rns,-Sicill0ri ard Caio-
;,,W
Afterwards another opportunity occurred in the
PottsviIle region Of Anthracite ceal. Professor
RoDcEns, the State Geeloeist, who, though well
acquainted with the strata of the district was
anxious as | was to know il the rule would hold
good. examined first at Potsvc and ut Mauch
Chunk when the same phenomena were observed.
In the first coal mine wc came tothc coal had abccn
quarricd away (for the work was carried on inopen
day) and nothing but the checks of the mine
NAMED The beds, as they have been horizontal
are now not vertical, but have gone through Il:
angle of little more than 900, and turned l'ls
over: so that what is now the under side
originally the upper; therefore the cheek on il,e
left side was originally the Aoor OF the mine. Ne
now looked at the lower cheek and the first thn.g
we saw was the Stismara, very distinct; on thu
other side but H,tc way OFF. were ferns. Sislila
ric;c, Calanites, Aslerophyllitcs. bnt no Stigma
80 IL was III NlauCl CHliIIh, WIcIt Nt lpuHt
one 80 feet long with leaves radiating in all dircc
ticns At this place there is a bed Of Anthracite,
nearly 60 feet ,hick--t, magnificent accumulation
Of vegetable matter, to which there is nothing
comparable in Europe Except in place it
perfectly pure.
Ii has now been ascer,aincd for many years that
prof. EAroS was quite correct in affirming The
Anthracite and Bituminous Goals to be of the same
age This is shown only by their relative pc,
sition with regard to the rcd sandstone, but from
the plants found in both being Identical.
All the coal fields, therefore, may be regarded as
one whole, and the question will occur, How dia
it happen that,hc great hoer was let down so as tt
prevent the accumulation of coal and yer plauts OF
so different textures should be found in it? 1t has
been suggested that these plants grew in swamps
and it is possible to imagine that there may have
been morasses fitted only for the growth Of the
species of plants called Shgmaria; and that this
marsh filing up, this and the other plants became
dry, and the leaves accumulated one layer above
another so rs To form beds of coal Of diiicrcn!
nature from those that preceded. You know itis
common thing for shallow ponds to ill up grad
ually with mud and aquatic plants and at last pea.
and trees are formed upon them. AcorreSpondns
change is constantly going in different parts oi
l,uropc-thc same trans tionfrom boys and MARSHES
TO soil capable OF supporting various great trees
is taking place, and then the gronnd is submerged
for always again and again, we must refer 10 this
subsdcncc of the soil.
Many of you, suppose, liayc seen the noia~S
called the Great Dismal in North Carolina aud
Virginia; and YOU have probably ha'. an opport-
nifty, as have, of crossing the northern extremity o.
i, on railway supported hy piles, from Norolkto
Weldon This is no less than forty miles from
north To south, and twenty from east west.
covered entirely with various orcS, trees, under
which is q great quantity of moss the vegetation
is of every variety of size from common creeping