The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1882-06-10
How Coal was Formed.

Inc coal IRE IN the CRATE sparkled
and cracked and sent its sharp-point-
ed flames up through the dark mass,
giving even the smoke lurid hue.
4 We all sat gazing into the fire.
making fancies and thinking our own
thoughts, when Uncle John inter-
rupted the silence by saying:
Sand so, at last, this coal fulfils its
mission. Perhaps you do not know
how coal is formed?"
"Well," began Uncle John, strok-
ing his long, white beard. "many
thousand years ago, in fact, more
years than any of you can count even
10 whole lifetime. there grew vast
forest. There were no North and
South American Continents, nOreven
an Eastern and Western World. An
exceedingly small portion of the
globe was land, the rest was wide
sea. In many places the ocean was
shallow, and as years went by the
sand and drift matter filled up the
shallow places, until they became
great swamps. In these grew great
forests.
The great amount of carbonic acid
gas that mingled with the air, and
the high degree of warmth, along
with the constant moisture, caused
these forests to grow very rapidly.
The pine tree grew to an Immense
size ferns grew as high as trees and
a sort of club moss. that i'm our for
ests never grows over three feet high,
in those forests grew eighty and
ninety feet high.
Along the damp, warm valley of
the Amazon, in South America, and
in the tropics, grow our richest and
most profuse vegetation, but even
that is nothing compared TO the AM
cient forests that grew from the
swamps, In these forests the trees
and vegetation grew so rapidly that
they crowded upon each other. Be-
ing too much crowded, much of the
vegetation died down as rapidly as
it had grown. Thus year after year,
the old forest died down. and above
it grew the new, until one forest was
piled uDon another.
After thousands of years, grad
ually, the whole surface of the land
began to sink, until the sea once
more flowed over the place where
forests had grown. And again, after
thAusand Of years. the drift matter
and sand again filled up the shallow
places. and other forests grew in new
swamps. AS y ars went by, they,
too, were submerged in the sea.
This continued for nulnberless years.
Between each layer of decayed for
ests there was layer of sand and
mud and SHELF and drift matter that
finally hardened into rock, forming
the limestone or sandstone that is
found in our coal mines. Miners can
tell just how many times the coal
beds have been submerged by the
number of layers of sandstone or
limestone.
Most of the trees of that ancient
forest were pine trees. Pine contains
tarand pitch and great deal of re.
sin0us matter. Coal also contains tar.
and pitch and rosin, which 1t received
from the decayed pine. Coal is pure
carbon, and is black because carbon
is black. All plants contain great
deal Of carbonic acid. When plants
breath or decay they give off large
quantities of carbonic acid gas, hence,
this carbon becomes part of the
COAL
The constant pressure above, and
the water, caused this decaying veg
citation to take first the form OF peat.
Peat is soft, spongy sort ofcoal. and
it is much used by the poor yeoman-
ny Of England and Ireland for their
fires. After the peat has lain many
thousands Of years under great pres.
sure and deeply buried in the dark
bosom Of the earth. II gradually and
slowly hardens into the coal we use
in our CRATE.
Sometimes. in splitting open
block Of coal, you can plainly see the
impress of beautiful and perfectly
formed leaves, branches aud twigs
and vines. Our coal Is really, then.
but decayed forest. 1t has
only been within the last few years
that coal has come into extensive use
In Europe and United States. Not
until the timber of the forests was
fast disappearing did coal come into
demand, and yet 1t has been stored
away in measureless abundance gen.
erations before we were my
Y. Tribune.
Poor Ene0uraQameEt for Office Seekara