ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 107 



sand was formcl by the action of the sea on its present site, nnd 

 was not brought from a far distance by ghicial action or the waters 

 of a torrent, as may have been the case with the superincumbent 

 gravel. 



Below these comes the Chalk. It is known to exist in places to 

 a dt'pth of over 1,000 fec^t, and Huxley has shown that its deposit 

 could liardly have been at a more rapid rate than an inch in a year, 

 and probably that the rate was very much slower ; consequently, 

 and witbout taking into account the question of the strata whicli 

 exist below, we arrive at the conclusion that the Chalk formation, 

 at the lowest estimate, could not have taken less than 12,000 years 

 to create, and all this must have taken place while Hertfordshire 

 was nnderneath a deep sea. 



Then we have to account for the thick bed of sand to which 

 I have referred. It is very difficult to discover a satisfactory 

 theory as to how so widespread an area could have been so regulaidy 

 covered with such a persistent layer as this undoubtedly is. I can 

 only surmise that the retreat of the sea must have been very 

 gradual, to afford the waves sufficient time to roll and grind the 

 pebbles of the shore, over so large a district, into sand. He would 

 be a bold man who ventured to estimate the length of time that 

 this operation would consume. 



Then when the sea had retired, I imagine that some fresh-water 

 flood brought down and deposited (whether through the agency of 

 ice, or how, I cannot say), the gravel, and left it on the top of the 

 sand, thus completing the story of this curious formation. 



It is frequently said by the thoughtless that science is 

 incompatible with religion, and that by proving the date of the 

 world's birth to be anterior to the modem estimate of that of 

 Adam, we are disproving the truth of Holy Writ ; but I am 

 satisfied that this is an unfounded apprehension, as a little 

 intelligent study of the Bible itself, instead of other people's ideas 

 of what is in it, will show. 



I have been asked to draw your attention to the recent 

 establishment, in St. Albans, as a faiidy central situation in 

 Hertfordshire, of the County Museum, and to express the hope 

 that it will be adequately supported from all parts of the County, 

 both by practical help and by those who possess articles of local 

 interest and value either offering them to the Museum directly 

 as gifts or as loan collections. 



The word "museum," as you know, is derived fi'om the Greek 

 fiovaetou, signifying a collection of natural, scientific, or other 

 curiosities, or of works of art. 



