HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



127 



consider that in many parts of England the sea is 

 encroaching on the land at the rate of a yard, or even 

 more, a year. If further evidence was wanted, a few 

 moments' conversation with a coastguardsman or old 

 seaside villager would convince the most sceptical of 

 the correctness of my statement, for I have often had 

 pointed out to me areas where in place of harvests of 

 corn,^only seaweed can now be gathered, and where 

 instead of village communities, molluscan colonies 

 now exist. 



The object of this article is to enlist all those who 

 are scientifically inclined, and who either live at, or 

 visit seaside districts, in the work of collecting 

 records of the past work of this powerful denuding 

 agent, and watching the extent to which it is acting 

 at the present time. We cannot all be Darwins or 

 Lyells, but we can all assist in that equally important 

 work of collecting materials without which no theory 

 worthy of the name can be propounded. The 

 collecting of evidence, to be of any scientific value, 

 must be undertaken in a very careful and patient 

 manner ; and I think it will not be out of place if we 

 briefly consider a few cases where attention has been 

 paid to the subject, in order that those who are 

 inclined to assist in the work may more clearly 

 understand the nature of the evidence required. 

 Yorkshire furnishes an excellent example, for, from 

 the Mouth of the Tees to the Humber, the whole 

 coast is undergoing rapid denudation. Professor 

 Phillips wrote in 1853: " For many years the rate 

 at which the cliffs recede from Bridlington to Spurn, 

 a distance of thirty-six miles, has been found by 

 measurement to equal, on an average, two and a 

 quarter yards annually, which, upon thirty-six miles 

 of coast, would amount to about thirty acres a year. 

 At this rate, the coast has lost one mile in breadth 

 since the Norman Conquest." But this is by no 

 means an excessive rate of demolition, for Pennant, 

 by reference to old maps of the same country, finds a 

 number of villages marked, which are now only repre- 

 sented by sand banks in the sea. The whole coast 

 of Norfolk and Suffolk furnishes similar examples. 

 Mention need only be made of Dunwich, once a large 

 city with twelve churches, and the most important sea- 

 port on the east coast, which is now only represented 

 by an unimportant village ; but there is no need to 

 give further examples. The Reculver church of Kent, 

 ihe Hordwell Cliffs of Hampshire, and many other 

 examples might be easily found, but we have already, 

 in our geological text-books, become acquainted 

 with them, and it would be foreign to my object to 

 burden this paper with details, as I think we have 

 already sufficient examples to show that the sea is 

 yearly bringing nearer home the truth that "Britannia 

 rules the waves." 



A very natural question for my reader now to ask, 

 would be : Why do you plead for observers, when 

 you own that we already have such good records? 

 ;My answer is, that these only refer to limited districts 



of our extensive islandic coast, whereas a full record 

 is required of its whole past extent ; and again, wc 

 must not be satisfied with what we have, but should 

 bear in mind that, as every year masses of strata are 

 becoming denuded, the records of their rich flora and 

 fauna are being lost irrevocably by the triturating 

 action of the waves. When we bear in mind 

 certain formations, for example, the crags of the 

 east coast and the Purbeck beds, it becomes evident 

 that unless proper accounts are kept, and continual 

 visits made to such places of destruction, whole 

 series of fossils (many of unknown species and 

 genera) are becoming lost to science, and thus 

 leaving missing links in the chain of palseontological 

 development, which might have been found. 



I think I have now shown sufficiently that there is 

 plenty of room for such work, and I can confidently 

 promise all those who join in it, that they will 

 be fully repaid for their trouble by the new facts 

 which will be daily brought to view, and by^ the 

 knowledge that while investigating the records of the 

 past, they are each adding their little to the advance 

 of one of the greatest of sciences. 



In closing my remarks, a few hints will not be 

 amiss as to the most important points to be attended 

 to in such research. These I will class under three 

 heads. 



1. The extent of Demuiation, past ajtd present. — 

 The former extent of the sea coast may be determined 

 with some degree of accuracy, by hunting up old 

 maps, consulting church registers and tithe rolls, by 

 questioning old residents (great care should be taken 

 on this point, as the human species is very subject to 

 the exaggerative). Another point of importance 

 is to settle the question as to whether the denudation 

 has been regular, or whether there have been any 

 excessive years, and if so to determine the dates of 

 the same. The present extent of denudation is a 

 matter for personal observation. 



2. The Nature of the Demidation.—\JnA&r this 

 head should be considered the questions of how far 

 the marine work has been aided by sub-aerial action, 

 nature of rocks, &c. 



3. The FalccontoIogieallProblem—\N\\\ch. involves 

 the collection of specimens, and determining and 

 reaching the same. 



Should all these points be well attended to, the 

 value of the work will be great to science, while the 

 investigator will feel that all has not been in vain. 



Two Curious Phenomena. — The following facts 

 are sufficiently remarkable to be chronicled. A lady, 

 breaking her egg at breakfast, found inside it and 

 attached to the shell, a small piece of printed paper, 

 on which the printing was still visible. In a garden 

 at Acton there is an apple-tree which has at the 

 present time half-a-dozen apples remaining upon it. 

 The blossom of this year is not out yet. — R. H.N.B 



