Organic Remains of a Former World; The vegetable kingdom

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1833 edition. Excerpt: ...FOURCROY. Among the humiliating proofs of our limited powers of inquiry, there are few which are more striking, than that which is manifested by the inefficiency of our investigations relative to coal. Respecting the origin of this substance, so plentifully bestowed on us for our daily use, and consequently continually subjected to the immediate examination of our senses, the most widely different opinions have been held; and by those, too, who have been the most competent to form a proper judgment. Even with that theory which has been the latest promulgated, by a gentleman whose extraordinary knowledge in mineralogy and chemistry stamps a high degree of authority on every opinion he adopts, I am under the necessity of expressing my dissatisfaction. This circumstance is the more unpleasant, since the observations which led to the objections to this ingenious theory, have also forced me to the adoption of an hypothesis, which, although sufficiently seductive to hold my judgment captive, may be found, by the more discerning, to possess less probability than those opinions to which it is opposed. To enable you to form a judgment on this subject, I shall proceed to place before you those opinions which have been most generally adopted, and such objections as seem to affect their validity. VOL. I. H H The specific gravity and hardness of some species of coal, have procured coal in general to be distinguished, by some, by the term, stone-coal. Struck by the predominance of these qualities, and perceiving also the great quantity of bituminous matter contained in coal, this substance has been considered, by some chemists of considerable knowledge and abilities, as being an earth, or rather a stone of the argillaceous genus, which has become impregnated...