Therefore, this wood had grown upon land which flood above the level of
sea, while the present land was only forming at the bottom of the ocean.
Wood is the most substantial part of plants, as shells are the more
permanent part of marine animals. It is not, however, the woody part
alone of the ancient vegetable world that is transmitted to us in
the record of our mineral pages. We have the type of many species
of foliage, and even of the most delicate flower; for, in this way,
naturalists have determined, according to the Linnaean system, the
species, or at least the genus, of the plant. Thus, the existence of a
vegetable system at the period now in contemplation, so far from being
doubtful, is a matter of physical demonstration.
The profusion of this vegetable matter, delivered into the ocean, which
then generated land, is also evidenced in the amazing quantities of
mineral coal which is to be found in perhaps every region of the earth.
Nothing can be more certain, than that all the coaly or bituminous
strata have had their origin from the substance of vegetable bodies
that grew upon the land.
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