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Chap. XL Appendix, No. 2. 3

rigin, and perennial existence, while the greater number of ve-getables spring up and perish in the course of one year. Thelittle attention which had formerly been paid to the origin andprogress of moss, rendered its great durability, a new pheno-menon to those, whose attention it had excited; gave scope totheir-imaginations, and sometimes led them, perhaps, to adoptconjecture instead of truth.

Instead of attempting to combat any of the theories whichhave been advanced, it may probably be more useful, to leaveevery one to the enjoyment of his own ; and exhibit, a few ac-tual observations made on this substance, both in its incipient,thnd more advanced state, as more serviceable to sober inquirersin their future investigations.

And, first, with respect to moss in its incipient state.—ThereCan be no doubt, that Infinite Goodness had originally endowedthe surface of the earth, with a disposition to produce vegeta-bles, suited to the support of the animals existing upon it. Butperhaps all parts were not endowed, with an equal degree of fer-tility ; and this inequality, is so greatly increased by the revolu-tions which are perpetually occurring, that some parts have be-come totally incapable of producing pasturable herbage. But be-neficent Nature has provided a remedy for correcting this ine-quality. When any part of the surface is so barren, as not toproduce those plants which penetrate the ground with their roots,and thence draw their principal sustenance, some of the coria-ceous lichens and smaller bryums, which have no rostel to putdown into the earth, but lay hold on the surface with their smallfangs, and draw their support from the atmosphere, first occupythe ground. These, and others of the same nature, thrive thefaster, in proportion to the 'abundance of water which may, byany means, be detained on the surface. When the supply ofthis liquid is considerable and lasting, cushions of the Bryumhypnoides begin to form over the others, and serve for dams todetain more water. The sphagnum palustre then occupies thehollows; j&nd the lichen rangiferinus grows thick on every hil-lock : and thus all the parasitical tribes of Musci and Alga:, ofwhich peat-moss is formed, grow over one another. In this man-ner, peat-moss begins to be formed on barren ground, in coldand rainy countries, and accumulates the faster, as the tempera-ture is colder, and the water more abundant. Any attentive ob-server, who has passed over barren ground, neglected and un-drained, must have noticed these beginnings, and need be at noloss to form a judgment, how this substance has, in the courseof ages, while the culture of the fields was neglected, occupiedso much of the surface. There is a piece of rising ground, inthe midst of a large flow moss, where the writer of this has seenthe naked sand and sandstones, fifty five years ago. He has, atdifferent periods, observed the progress of growth over it, as.- a-

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