SECTION FROM LONDON TO THE ISLE OF WIGHT. 75 





by the Britisli Channel, Eng- 

 land would be separated from 

 the continent, and the small 

 portion, now the Isle of Wight, 

 forced into its present position, 

 by a subsidence taking place 

 in the direction of the arrow, 

 a, along the present bed of 

 the Solent Sea. The actual 

 position of the strata, could 

 our observations extend to a 

 sufficient depth, would pro- 

 bably present the section 

 sketched in Ugh. 3 ; which is 

 in accordance with the local 

 phenomena that will come 

 under review in our geological 

 excursions round the Isle of 

 Wight. It is obvious that if the 

 Forest range of the county of 

 Sussex were swept away by 

 the encroachments of the sea, 

 and the area it occupied buried 

 beneath the waves, the North 

 Downs would present a strict 

 analogy in geological structure 

 to the Isle of Wight ; for a 



