"By the feeble light of the miner's lamp we enter one of these aisles.
The whole thickness of the coal seam is exposed along the walls.

"Here and there a white shell projects, showing us that the products of
the sea are suspended over our heads.

"Then a very different sight will greet our eyes. The rocky ceiling will
be ornamented everywhere with the most delicate tracery, faultless
representations of the delicate fronds of ferns.

"We remove a scale from the rock, and behind is still another picture.
The whole mass of the shaly roof is a portfolio of inimitable sketches.
The sharpest outlines and the minutest serratures are clearly traced.
Buds, woody stems, cones, fruits, grasses, rushes, club mosses, all are
by turns pictured on the dusky ceiling."

In another portion of his book, Professor Winchell speaks of very
curious things that have been found in many instances by miners in the
heart of a coal mine.

These are the trunks of trees, which are found standing upright as
though still growing.

Mr. Winchell says:

"These tree-trunks are from one to five feet in diameter, and are
sometimes sixty or seventy feet in height.

"In many instances they have been found standing erect, and have
evidently been buried by accumulations of mud and sand.