XXXTIU PROCEEDINGS, 



sea or wholly inland as in Hertfordshire. Moreover, some counties 

 having a coastline had few or no local scientific societies, and might 

 need help from an inland society such as ours. It was now possible 

 to obtain maps on the scale of 6 inches to the mile for all localities, 

 and on these measurements could be made from the edge of the 

 cliffs, at any given time, to the nearest roads, footpaths, hedges, 

 cottages, or other objects, and the amount of land lost since the 

 map was made could be accurately ascertained. Of course all such 

 measurements should be dated. 



In illustration of the loss which has been sustained in certain 

 places he might mention Sheppey. The Geologists' Association 

 had made three excursions there. On their first visit the church 

 and churchyard of Warden were untouched. Some years later the 

 churchyard was found to have been partly destroyed, and coffins 

 were seen sticking out from the edge of the cliff. Last year 

 neither church nor churchyard could be seen. There was another 

 form of encroachment by the sea which had been well displayed 

 dui'ing a recent visit of the Geologists' Association to Aldeburgh in 

 Suffolk. There they found many cottages, sheds, and gardens 

 more or less injured or even destroyed by the heaping up of masses 

 of shingle in or against them, the result of a stoim in ^November, 

 1897, which had caused much damage over many miles of our 

 coast. Much injury to land adjoining the sea was also often 

 <lone by blown sand, which here and there had been driven to 

 considerable heights, covering areas of some breadth, as he had 

 recently seen on the northern coast of Cornwall. 



The help of the photographer was extremely valuable in giving 

 an unassailable record of a past state of things ; the damage done 

 by natural forces being often greatly obscured in a comparatively 

 short period of time. The photo -theodolite might frequently be 

 useful in this matter. 



Turning to the economical aspect of the question, Mr. Whitaker 

 remarked that there were two things especially worthy of attention — 

 (1) the removal of shingle from the shore, (2) the quarrying of 

 stone on the faces of sea-cliffs. There were certainly some places 

 where the removal of shingle from the shore should never be 

 allowed ; nowhere should it be permitted without some thought 

 as to the probable result. And the quarrying of stone on the face 

 of a sea-cliff often had a powerful influence in aiding the erosive 

 agencies of Nature. 



Archseologists would be interested in noting spots where old 

 British camps had been partly destroyed by the sea ; examples 

 of which he had noticed on the Chalk of Dorset and on the much 

 harder I'ocks which form the cliffs of northern Cornwall. 



Obseiwations of this kind were not only calculated to make us 

 realize the differences between the outlines of the coast now and 

 in pre-historic times, but they also led us to try to imagine the 

 probable changes in the future. 



' Lantern-views of coast-scenery were exhibited in illustration of 

 the paper. 



