conclusion that the trees had first been overthrown by earthquake force, and buried beneath the debris from some ancient eruption of Mount St. Helena, the summit of which is fully ten miles distant in a northeastern direction on the other side of the valley; then petrified by the action of acids contained in these volcanic deposits, and in the lapse of time again uncovered by the wearing away of the overlaying tufa by the action of the rains and storms. There are grave difficulties in the way of the acceptance of this theory. The locality is situated at an elevation of not less than 2,000 feet above the sea, and from 1,000 to 1,200 feet above the valley which intervenes between these hills and the mountain from whence the volcanic matter is supposed to have come.
I hazard a purely unprofessional and gratuitous suggestion, that the trees were gradually petrified while they were yet upright and living, through the slow absorption at the roots of silic acid, which exuded from the rocks beneath and impregnated the soil around them. As the process of petrifaction progressed and extended upwards, the trees became top-heavy, and fell over from their own weight, the roots having become too brittle through decay or petrifaction to assist in sustaining them in their natural erect position. The fact that the roots and lower parts of the trunks only were petrified—no fragments of the boughs are to be found—strengthens this last hypothesis. However, there is nothing on earth so cheap as theories—certainly nothing more worthless—and the reader can take his choice, or reject them all and
