A RETROSPECT. . 149 



to-day. Then too had begun, and was con- 

 tinuing, the silent work the work of life and of 

 death which caused the slow but sure accretion 

 of substance by the agency of legions, incompre- 

 hensively vast in number, of infinitesimal mollusca, 

 that produced the solid formations of strata 

 under our feet. 



Abundant evidence has been forthcoming from 

 all parts of the area of the New Forest that this 

 retrospect is no mere fancy but is founded on 

 indisputable fact : and of these facts the facts 

 of geology we will give one interesting illustra- 

 tion from the testimony of Mr. "Wise, who records 

 his discoveries in his own valuable and interesting 

 work on the New Forest. This record will have 

 especial interest here because it relates to the 

 Brook Beds which lie in the very valley into 

 which we are descending : and we will give the 

 account in the discoverer's own words. ' The 

 Brook Beds,' says Mr. Wise, ( I can best describe 

 for the general reader by an account of a pit 

 which Mr. Keeping and myself made. It was 

 sunk about twenty feet from the King's Gairn 

 Brook and measured about six yards long by 



