Ah, mamma, that is just as Dr. Paley used to feel and I dare say those primitive zoophytes were as happy as the cloud of shrimps he was so pleased with watching on the sea-shore !"

1 Harry Beaufoy, p. 162.

CHAPTER VII.

O Wisdom truly perfect! thus to call
From a few causes such a scheme of things,
Effects so various, beautiful and great.

THOMSON.

"WHEN you were speaking of animal fossils, mamma, you said that the oldest rocks contained no vestiges of any creatures superior in rank to corals and shell-fish. Where then were found the remains of those strange monsters with formidable names, that you mentioned in one of our first conversations?"

"Before I answer that question, Harry, it will be better for you to have some notion of the order, or succession of the rocks in which the various kinds of fossils are found. Our conversations have, hitherto, principally referred to the nature or operation of some of those causes which have produced great changes in the surface of the Earth:

now, if we advance beyond this, it is very desirable that the knowledge you may acquire, however slight, should be distinct. You know we have already spoken of granite as originally occupying the lowest place among rocks, and I have explained some of the causes which have led to its frequent appearance in very elevated situations. Suppose we now consider granite as the pillar or pavement supporting the different strata: shall I give you some account of the principal rocks lying above the granite, in the order they are usually observed to succeed each other?"

"I should like it very much; but where shall we find the granite that is to be our foundation?”

"We cannot see it here, because we happen to live upon the uppermost strata of all, the beds lying above the chalk; the other strata are found between the chalk and the granite."

"How very unfortunate for us! These strata are then buried out of our sight: we can tell nothing about them."

"We are situated in this respect just as in other kinds of knowledge; a little field of observation is presented to us, and if we would go beyond it, we must trust to the report of others. You have never seen France or Spain, but from the accounts

STRATA NEAR CHICHESTER.

225

of travellers, you are acquainted with many particulars relating to those countries."

66 True, mamma, but where is my field of observation with regard to the strata? I should like to know what may be seen with my own eyes in the first place."

"Then open them, if you please, Harry. You know the country round Chichester well; the rich meadows and corn-fields to the south, the gravelly commons covered with furze and fern to the north. After these we find meadows and corn-fields, though less fertile; and then the ground, at least in our immediate neighbourhood, sinks into a marshy valley. All these are the formations of clay, sand, and gravel, lying above the chalk.

"Immediately beyond the last range of cultivated fields and the marsh, the ground again rises, but into hills of entirely different appearance; chalk now becomes the surface of the Earth, the gravel entirely disappears, and we find the chalk-pit and the lime-kiln. If we climb the hill and pass over the undulating summits of the Downs, we shall descend into a sandy country; and beyond the sand, find the clayey soil of the Weald.

"You know all this, for you have seen, and may

recall it to memory. When we were at Pul

borough you had not begun to think about the structure of the Earth, but you were pleased with the appearance of the sand-stone rock, and took pains to select some specimens. The district you have actually seen, is your field of observation; and you may regard yourself as fortunate in living near the junction of different strata, where you may observe for yourself the manner in which they make their appearance one after another on the surface. A few rude pencil lines, when compared with your own recollections will, I think, make the arrangement quite intelligible."

While Mrs. Beaufoy was sketching the junction of the upper strata with the chalk, she said: "I think, Harry, you must at once perceive the advantages resulting from these beds emerging in succession from beneath each other. If one single stratum, like the gravel of the common, had covered the whole country, and the other strata