Unpublished manuscript, 'Observations on the probable formation of mineral coal, and on the position and accompanying circumstances of fossil trees' in a letter from Willm [William] Chapman to Sir Joseph Banks Chapman describes fossilised trees found in Kenton Colliery near Newcastle [Northumberland, England] and their possible way of formation. He then discusses the formation of coal, writing that it originates from peat moss that has been compressed underground and subsequently converted into coal. Significant annotations and marginalia seeming not to be written by Chapman appear throughout in graphite. Subject: Mineralogy / Geology Written by Chapman in Newcastle. October 1815