forests--prostrate trunks and broken
stumps in countless numbers overspreading the gathered vegetable remains
of centuries before. Upon these the sea builds a protective covering of
sand or mud, more or less thick. Here sea creatures come to live, fishes
swim hungrily to and fro, and shellfishes die in the mud which, by and
by, is to become firm rock with stony animal remains embedded in it.

After a while the land rises again to its former position. There are
bare, sandy flats as before, but they do not remain bare. Lichens and
hardier plants find a home. The light spores of the ancient forest trees
take root and grow, and luxuriant forests, like those of old, spring
again into being. Upon river and lake bottoms, and over the low damp
lands, rich layers of decaying vegetation again collect. Then once more
the land sinks and the ocean tide pours in; and another sandy or muddy
stratum is built up on the overflowed lands. Thus the second layer of
forest growth is buried like the first, and both lie quietly through the
long ages following, hidden from sight, slowly changing in their
substance from wood to shining coal.

* * * * *

Thus time after time, the land rose and sank, rose and sank, again and
again. Not the whole continent is believed to have risen or sunk at the
same time; but here at one period, there at another period, the
movements probably went on.

The greater part of the vegetable mass decayed slowly; but when the
final ruin of the forest came, whole trunks were snapped off close to
the roots and flung down. These are now found in numbers on the tops of
the coal layers, the barks being flattened and changed to shining black
coal.

How wonderful the tale of those ancient days told to us by these buried
forests!

FOOTNOTE:

[Footnote 45: By Agnes Giberne, an English writer on scientific
subjects.]

SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOON[46]

I am going to say a few words about the moon; but there are many matters
relating to her of great interest which I must leave untouched, for the
simple reason that there is not room to speak of them in a single paper.

Thus the moon's changes of shape from the horned moon to the half, and
thence to the full moon, with the following changes from full to half,
and so to the horned form again, are well worth studying; but I should
want all the space I am going to occupy, merely to explain properly
those changes alone.

So a study of the