《organic remains of a former world ：an examination of the mineralized remans of the vegetables and an》

LETTER Ⅰ.RATIONAL Application of Wealth and Leisure...Snake-stones...Fairies changed to Snakes ...Fairies' Nightcaps...Bones of Giants...Thunderbolts1

LETTER Ⅱ.Vestiges of the Inhabitants of a former World...Lime-stone and Marble...Medals of Creation...Pleasures afforded by this Science...Animals in the former World, different from those of the present6

LETTER Ⅲ.Early Existence of these Substances...Noticed by Xenophanes, Herodotus, Eratosthenes,Strabo, Pliny, Ovid, c...Sketch of the History of the Science14

LETTER Ⅳ.Opinions respecting the Origin of these Bodies...Plastic Power...Translation of seminal Principles...Growth of Stones...Terms...Figured Stones...Diluvian Stones...Fossils, extraneousor adventitious...New terms proposed...Secondary Fossils, vegetable or animal... Fossilia vulgo dicta...Impressions—Casts...Figured Stones30

LETTER Ⅴ.Form of the Earth's Surface...Mountains...Strata...Wisdom manifested in their Disposition Different Kinds of Earths...Alumine ; forming Clay, Lithomarga, Slate, c...Silica; formingRock Crystals, Calcedony, Flint, c...Lime; forming Lime-stone, Chalk, Tufa, Marble, c Magnesia ; forming Steatites, Asbestos, Serpentine, c...Sulphurets, Pyrites, or Marcasites39

LETTER Ⅵ.Pleasures of Travelling...Wood-stone...Inquiries respecting Vegetable Fossils47

LETTER Ⅶ.Vegetable Fossils...Fossil Trees...Described by the Ancients...By the Moderns...Found inalmost every Part of the World52

LETTER Ⅷ.Constituents of Vegetables...Food of Vegetables75

LETTER Ⅸ.Resolution of Vegetables into their first Principles...First Step in the Mineralization of Vegetables...Vegetable Mould...Ignis Fatuus79

LETTER Ⅹ.Peat or Turf...Description of...Various Kinds...Length of Time known...Found in variousParts of the World85

LETTER Ⅺ.Bituminous Wood...Surturbrand of Iceland...Bovey Coal of England 101LETTER Ⅻ.In Answer, from Bovey...Present State of the Coal-pit at Bovey...Strata, c123

LETTER ⅩⅢ.Bitumens...Particular Kinds described...Known to Writers of the highest Antiquity...History of Naphtha, Petroleum, and Asphaltum, from the more ancient Naturalists127

LETTER ⅩⅣ.Account of Bitumens continued, from more modern Authors...Ray, Dolomieu, c...Tar Lakein the Island of Trinidad...Petroleum Wells in the Burmha Dominions...Russia, c138

LETTER ⅩⅤ.Amber...Known to the earliest Writers in Natural History...Jet... Succinum nigrum of the Ancients...Cannel Coal...Difference between it and Jet150

LETTER ⅩⅥ.Coal described...Different Kinds of Coal...Doubtfiil if known to the Greeks, or early Romans...Brought into common Use, in this Island, but in modern Times...Found in various Partsof the World159

LETTER ⅩⅦ.Particularities observable in different Coal-pits...Cannel Coal...Pyrites, c173

LETTER ⅩⅧ I.Bituminous Fermentation...Compared with the other Species of Fermentation—Bitumens, the Result of this process...Peat, a vegetable Fossil, the first Product of this Fermentation179

LETTER ⅩⅨ.Fossil Trees, imbedded in Peat, have undergone the bituminous Fermentation...The Changes which mow-burnt Hay undergoes, somewhat similar to that produced by the bituminousFermentation189

LETTER ⅩⅩ.Examination of Opinions respecting the Origin of Peat...Aboriginal Formation...A marine Deposit...Mineral Origin...Floating Islands...A recent Vegetable Substance195

LETTER ⅩⅪ.The purer Bitumens, the Result of the same Fermentation by which Peat has been formed Bituminous Fermentation imitates, in its Result, the Operation of Secretion...Mineral Tallow,perhaps of animal Origin...Other Arguments in favour of bituminous Fermentation '206

LETTER ⅩⅫ.Of the Origin of the purer Bitumens...Naphtha...Petroleum...Mineral Tar...Mineral Pitch...Asphaltum...Amber...Mellite...Jet and Cannel Coal218

LETTER ⅩⅩⅢ.Opinions respecting the formation of Coal...Earth impregnated with Petroleum, the Opinionof Buffon and Gensanne...Opinion of Sign. Arduino...Of Dr. Hutton and Professor Playfair—Of Mr. Williams—Of Mons. Tingry...Of Dr. Darwin...Of Mr. Kirwan...Of Mr.Hatchett...Of Mons. Patrin...Of Mons. Fourcroy 233LETTER ⅩⅩⅣ.Inquiry respecting the Origin of Coal continued...Hypothesis proposed...Mosaic Account of the Deluge...Objections against...Universality of the Deluge...Changes thus effected...Vegetable Matter disposed in Situations in which Coal now exists246

LETTER ⅩⅩⅤ.Inquiry whether the vegetable Matter was deposited at the Deluge under Circumstances favourable to its Conversion to Coal...Bitumen alone not fitted for Fuel...Other Matters necessary to be added...Peculiar Arrangement of the Particles256

LETTER ⅩⅩⅥ. Recapitulation...Apparent Agreement of the Hypothesis with the Economy of Nature265

LETTER ⅩⅩⅦ.Mineral Charcoal...Opinions respecting...Subterranean Combustion of Pit-coal...Combustion of Pyrites...Mineral Charcoal272

LETTER ⅩⅩⅧ.Pyritous Woods...Opinions of Dr. Hutton and Mr. Playfair...Igneous Origin...Aqueous Origin examined283

LETTER ⅩⅩⅨ.Petrifaction...Theories respecting...Substitution...Adopted by Walch, Kirwan, Daubenton,Fourcroy, ＆c...Theory of Dr. Hutton and Mr. Playfair295

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩ.Theory of the Petrifaction of Wood proposed...Petrified Wood, silicious, calcareous, and aluminous306

LETTER ⅩⅩⅪ.Silicious Pebbles...Conjectures as to the Time and Mode of their Formation...Crystalline Fluid of Reaumur...Agatine Nodules...Theory of their Formation...Opinions of Dr. Hutton and Mr. Playfair...Aqueous Origin supported311

LETTER ⅩⅩⅫ.Silicious Waters of Carlsbad—Of Iceland—Of Bath—Silicious Tufa of the Geyser...Vegetable Calculi...Flint in the Epidermis of Plants323

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅢ.Petrified Wood...Divided into silicious, calcareous, aluminous, c...Silicions divided into silicized Wood and silicized bituminous Wood...The latter, into calcedonic, agatine,jasperine,and opaline328

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅣ.Calcedonic Wood...agatine...jasperized331

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅤ.Opaline Wood...The Result of the Union of silicious and soft bituminous Matter337

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅥ.Evident Affinity between silicized, bituminous, or opaline Wood and Pitch-stone...Analysis of opaline Wood—Of Pitch-stone...Similarity inferred 345LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅦ.Semi-opal...Experiment on Semi-opal of Telkebany...Opal...Its wonderful Properties Analysis by Klaproth...Horn-stone and Flint353

LETTER ⅩⅩⅩⅧ.Calcareous Wood...Lime frequently held in solution, in Water...Various Forms of Deposition...Confetto di Tivoli...Quarries of tufaceous Stone...Stalactitic Caverns360

LET TER ⅩⅩⅩⅨ.Calcareous fossil Wood...Where found...Calcareous Wood of Oxfordshire...Dorsetshire Somersetshire—Analysis...Mixture of Spar and Bitumen...Calcareous Wood of New South Wales...Aluminous Wood, c374

LETTER ⅩL.Metallic Fossil Wood...Bog Iron Ore...Fossil Wood, impregnated with Iron...With Copper, c384

LETTER ⅩLⅠ.Variety of petrified Woods...Proceeding from original natural Difference...From the Labours of Man391

LETTER ⅩLⅡ.Varieties of petrified Woods continued...These proceeding from the Operations of Insects Starry Stone of Chemnitz... Teredo Marina401

LETTER ⅩLⅢ.Secondary vegetable Fossils...In Schisti...In Sand-stone...In calcareous Strata...In argillaceous Nodules411

LETTER ⅩLⅣ.Great Difficulty of ascertaining even the Genera of the Plants which are thus preserved Dorsiferous Plants and Cacti most common416

LETTER ⅩLⅤ.Fossil Stems of Plants...Of the Reed, c....Fossilium incognitum424

LETTER ⅩLⅥ.Remarks on Leaves contained in Nodules...Impressions of the same Side of the Leaf on each Nodule...Accounted for by Jussieu, Schultz, c...Explanation proposed431

LETTER ⅩLⅦ.Fossil Flowers...Their Existence doubtful...Fossil Seeds and Seed-vessels...Fossil Fruits436

LETTER ⅩLⅧ.Conclusion45