The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1842-04-04
Professor Lyelrs Lecture on the Fossil
Footsteps Of Animals.

Professor Lyelrs Lecture the Fossil
Footsteps Of Animals
ORGANIC REMnNs-THE NIAGARA DISTRICT AN
rHRAGIrr Asp BIrUMNous Coal Mr. Lyel com
menoei his lecture on Saturday night, by stating
that he had been asked to say what caused the dit
ference between bituminous coal and anthracite
Many have thought that the difference was occa'
stoned by the difference in the wood, admitting
coal 10 he OF vegetable osigln,) which had been
converted into coal T; bat II was not so. No doubt
existed that bamboos, palms, &c. would produce a
diff rent kind OF coal from frs, &c; but, as We nd
in all the beds OF coal in Europe and America, the
same assemblage and species of plants and leaves,
we are bound to infer that the coal IN all these
places was produced by the same description OF
wood There is no doubt that anthracite has once
been bitumlnous coal, and that by being disturbed
and upheayed, and the beds Of it twisted, torn,
tossed in every direction, and bent back on itself,
the volatile mauer--,he btumnous portion of it has
escaped. Pure anthracite is.nearly pure carbon.
Wood is converted into bituminous coal by the loss
of its oxygen, and small portion OF lis carbon,
which escapes in the form OF carbonic acid gas.
And we find in The earth all the intermediate kinds
and stages Of wood from Ignite TO perfect coal.
And then again, also tnd every different variety
and stage Of coal in process of conversion, from the
perfect bituminous coal TO the pure anthrace coal
Bltumnous cea is converted into anthracite oy the
loss of its hydrogen, and small portion OF It's car
| bon. which, when combined form the carburetted
| hydrogen gas, which escapes from the earth more
or less in the neighborhood OF ali coal mnes some.
times so copousy that II Can be set me 10, ana VIII
burn at the surface OF the ground ami II Is THIS SUD
stance which forms the FIRE. damp-lhe gas so terrl-
bic 10 miners-it is the same kind o! gas we are
burning in this room We are borne out IN our be"
lief that bitumlnous coal has been CONVEX ed into
anthracite by disturbance, because IN the great
cit aoInu Of
that in that part Of the mountain where the
beds are most disturbed and broken in every d.
recton, and bent back almost upon each other,
there we find the anthracite IN the purest STATE In
the west part of the mountain, where the beds are
only partially disturbed, there the coal IS partly btu
minoss-al the carburetted hydrogen has not es-
capped. But in that part OF the mountain where the
beds are perfectly horizontal, and have never been
disturbed, there the coal Is perfectly bumlnous -
These facts bear out in the belief that btumnous
coal has been converted into anthracite by dstur-
banoe, producing the loss OF its hydrogen.
FOSSIL FoorsrEps OF ANIMALs.-Mr. Lyell then
went TO different subject, the consideration OF the
fossil footsteps Of animals found in the new red sand
stone. The class of rocks known by this IT'LL w.re
divided into two parts the upper portion was full
Of organic remains and In 1t have been fouad tae
fossil footsteps of animals near kssburg, on the boz
ders of Bohemia. These when discovered made a
prodigious sensation, because from the great yesem
blance they bore to the form OF a mans hand, they
were supposed to have been made by some kind OF
pairs-each resembling four II gers and thumb
and alternately the thumb was turned to the right
and to the left; and just in front of each of the
large footstep marks, there was mark OF smaller
footsep as If the forefoot Of the animal was much
smaller than the hindfoot. These footsteps were
imprinted in the clay mud just beneath the sand
stone then the sand was drlfted or deposited from
water On to them; and by being pressed down form
in lold relief the under side OF the slabs of sand
stone as perfectly as if they had been chisselled
by the sculptor The same kind OF fossil footstep
marks have alse been found at Stourton Hill, in
Cheshire, not far from Liverpool on the banks Of the
Mersey They have there been discovered in five
separate courses Of sandstone, with layer Of clay
between each; these marks are precisely the same
KIND as those On ne saT series Q! no, locks 10 uer
their relative position are the same. Some of the
hind feet marks are eight inches long and some
twelve. The animal which made these marks
must have been an air breather--because in water
he could not have made such heavy tracks.
Here Mr.. Lyell stated that on the mud at Savan-
nah, when the tide was out, he had seen the foot
tracks Of the racoon and the opossum; and before
the tide returned, the wind drifsd sand over these
foot tracks, to them, and in this way pro-
baby the original casts Of fossil footsteps had been
formed In the same new red sandstone rock in
England, where the footsteps were found, fossil
tooth was found, which was different from that Of
every other known reptile. Ga slice being cut
and nagnfed, il was found to resemble all the con.
volu.iens OF the brain. tooth OF the sans kind
also fOunO IN tne same IOck In permany-lt
could easily be that it had belonged to rep.
tile, and differ eat from the teeth Of any fishes
animals. Soon after this some bones OF the scdpu.
la were found-part OF the spine, Of the fore arm,
hind arm, and skull, so as to enable us TO make out
drawing of the animal as it appeared when in ex.
istence Here he referred to drawing of the la
byrinthodon, so called from the labyrnth-ike inter
nal structure Of its teeth.l The teeth of three diff
ferent species OF this animal were found and il was
proved that he an air breaiher by the nasal ca
witty the bones II is necessary here to state that
the numerous organic remains here found have been
divided thus the sduriGns, which include the Ii
gard tribe, and those enormous animals the chthyo
saurus, plegosaurus, &c; then the chelonians, in
GLIDING the tortoise, turtle &c then the Opidians,
which include the snake family; and lastly, the bat
fracidnd, which comprises the frogs, nevis, salaman-
ders, &c. This animal, whose footsteps we have
found in the new red sandstone, was kind OF frog
"A gigantic frog-and he ,cos large a bull!
[Great sensation, and considerable i.terlng among
the ladies And one of this species of frogs-the
plant, Uaugh,er) There are of course none
of this species OF animals existing to be found
so large although In Pennsy lvania some salaman
ders have been found, all Of two feet in length And
some few years ago, there were two salamanders,
male asd female, Il und in the island of Japan, in
the crater OF volcano, that were four feet in length
they were brought TO Holland, or rather one was
and put into the Museum al Leyden and TO prove
to you that they were carniverous have only to
state that the male fell upon the fmdie and ate her up
during the passage home Considerable tittering) il
not little singular that these salamanders
should be fouAd IN the crater Of vocano; because
the story that the salamander could stand fire unin-
ured, and an lncombustlble animal, is as old as
the time of Aristotle; and dispositions have been
made before magistrate, In the memory ofpersons
living, that they have seen saamanders remain in
fire tor two hours (; but all these stories have been
proved TO be the meTest fables
Mr.. LYELL then stated that Professor Hitchcock
had found in the sandstone of the Connecticut Val
ley, fossil track marks of birds and some of them
large The feet OF ostrich. He slso re.
ferred to the ripple mark Of the waves of the sea-
shore on these sandstones, and on the sandstone
near Newark and to fossil marks OF fish in that |
part of the sandstone of the Connecticut Valley,
which had been deposited in deeper water than the |
upper portion Of the new red sandstone SERIES |
where the fossil footsteps Of Il o LabyrIn:hodon were
found. The bones Of this animal have all been dis
covered within the last lew months-the researches
are still going on-but enough has been found TO
prove that the animal called the Cyrotheon and the |
Labyrlnlhodon are one and the same I; their feet |
made the same marks-they are found in the same
q ass Ofvo nd fherh hons ~ ,ba