2'12. Noiicrs rcspccling Nm: Booh. 



We shall not eater into tlie details, which are so well illus- 

 ti-ated by tlie plates accompanying them, but cjuote from his 

 concluding observations, the inference which he draws from 

 tJie whole : 



" Istly. That the strata composing the comity of wSussex 

 have been formed, at different periods, by successive deposi- 

 tions at the bottom of tranquil seas*. 



" 2dly. That the waters which deposited these formations 

 were inhabited by shell-fish, zoophytes, fishes, &c., the greater 

 part of wliich were not only essentially distinct from any that 

 are known in a recent state, but many of them are confined to 

 certain deposits. 



" 3dlj'. That one of these formations (the Tilgate beds) 

 contains the remains of shells, fishes, palms, arborescent ferns, 

 tiu-tles, gigantic lizards, and unknown quadrupeds ; an assem- 

 blage of organic renuiins for which it is difhcult to account, 

 unless we suppose that the bed in which they are inclosed 

 was deposited by a river or lake of fresh water. 



" 4thly. That the chalk subsequently to its consolidation 

 has suffered extensive destruction ; the upper beds having 

 been sv/ei)t away, and extensive basins formed on its surface. 



" 5tlily. That the excavations, or basins of the chalk, have 

 been filled up by a series of depositions, possessing very dif- 

 ferent characters to any that preceded them ; and which in 

 some places (Isle of Wight, Paris, &c.) consist of alternations 

 of marine and fresh water deposits. 



" 6thly. That these newer depositions have also been broken 

 up, and in a great measure destroyed, by an irruption of water 

 in a state of violent commotion ; a catastrophe to whose jiower- 

 ful agency the present form of the surface of the earth, and the 

 -accimuilations of beds of gravel, sand, &c. are to be attributed. 



" 7thly. That it is only among these last and newest de- 

 posits, the wrecks of ancient formations, that the remains of 

 the elephant, deer, horse, and other land quadrupeds, have 

 hitherto been discovei'ed. 



" T^astly. Tha'^ the jn-esent effects of the ocean appear to be 

 wholly inadecjuate to produce changes iiice those which have 

 formerly taken place. 



. * The absence of all traces of liind animals and vcgctaliles in these beds, 

 does not howcvci' ap[)ear to warrant the inference, that the former were not 

 then ill existence. For if we snppose that, after the deposition of the iron 

 Sand, the sea retired, and the surface of that formation became chithed witii 

 vegetation, and inhabited by animals j may it not be presumed, that if the 

 approach of the next ocean was jjradual, the advance and retrocession of its 

 wa\es nii!|ht destroy all traces oi" the land and its productions, before the 

 water covcrc^d the surface to a sufficient depth to allow of the tran(|uil de- 

 position of the AVeald clay? Tliis remark eipialiy applies to the other sc- 

 i-Giidaiy formations. " a T r,.iw.o 



