The Mighty Deep 



Sussex. There are chalk-beds in France, in 

 Germany, in other parts of Europe — not to 

 speak of Asia — which, with those of Great 

 Britain, extend through many hundreds of 

 miles. 



And wherever these masses of chalk are found, 

 there we know that, once upon a time, the land 

 lay under ocean-waves. 



For Chalk, like Sandstone, was not formed on 

 dry land. It could not be formed on dry land. 

 It was built — it could only be built — under 

 the sea, to be in later ages uplifted as dry 

 land. 



During those far-back days, when the chalk- 

 beds of Europe were being made, a different 

 state of things prevailed from that of the pre- 

 sent. By far the greater part of Europe must 

 have lain under water, from which the summits 

 of the Alps, the Pyrenees, and other mountains 

 emerged as groups of islands. Great Britain 

 must have been chiefly or entirely hidden. 



So far I have spoken of sandstone and chalk 

 too^ether. But a marked distinction — a vital dis- 

 tinction — exists between the two. 



In the mode of their building they may be 

 alike. In the materials of which they are built 

 they are utterly different. 



136 



