strata; either until they found a resting…place; such as the primitive bed of granitic rock; or; settling together in a heap; they formed a solid mass。
As the waters were contained in no bed; and were spread over every part of the globe; they rushed where they liked; tearing from the scarcely…formed rocks material with which to pose schists; sandstones; and limestones。 This the roving waves bore over the submerged and now peaty forests; and deposited above them the elements of rocks which were to superpose the coal strata。 In course of time; periods of which include millions of years; these earths hardened in layers; and enclosed under a thick carapace of pudding…stone; schist; pact or friable sandstone; gravel and stones; the whole of the massive forests。
And what went on in this gigantic crucible; where all this vegetable matter had accumulated; sunk to various depths? A regular chemical operation; a sort of distillation。 All the carbon contained in these vegetables had agglomerated; and little by little coal was forming under the double influence of enormous pressure and the high temperature maintained by the internal fires; at this time so close to it。
Thus there was one kingdom substituted for another in this slow but irresistible reaction。 The vegetable was transformed into a mineral。 Plants which had lived the vegeta…tive life in all the vigor of first creation became petrified。 Some of the substances enclosed in this vast herbal left their impression on the other more rapidly mineralized products; which pressed them as an hydraulic press of incalculable power would have done。
Thus also shells; zoophytes; star…fish; polypi; spirifores; even fish and lizards brought by the water; left on the yet soft coal their exact likeness; 〃admi