212 HIDDEN BEAUTIES OF NATURE 



abundant evidence. Among the advances made in 

 recent years few are of more service than the manu- 

 facture of matches. 



These flint implements that we have now picked 

 up, and many others frequently met with, show a 

 certain fashioning for definite purposes, and naturally 

 lead us to think that these ancient people of the 

 stone age knew nothing whatever of the use of 

 metals. 



The tide is now well out, so that we may walk 

 over the Neocomian bed, and see quantities of wood 

 which have been bored by the teredo and pholas. 

 ' How heavy it is ! ' you exclaim. Yes, it has been 

 covered up by overlying rocks, and has been satu- 

 rated with water containing iron and sulphur, the 

 two ingredients of our friend iron pyrites. You can 

 see all the rings of woody growth, but if you ex- 

 amine it with this pocket lens you will observe the 

 minute crystals of iron pyrites everywhere through 

 it. This remarkable bed of fossil wood has been 

 exposed by the action of the ever-moving sea. 



Those pieces of bright red tiles are evidence ot 

 Roman workmanship. The dull-looking pieces 

 yonder belonged to a cottage which stood in a nice 

 garden twenty-four years ago. Garden and cottage 

 have long since been carried on to the beach by the 

 ever-shifting and unstable gault. Such is the nature 

 of the strata in this locality that the same footpath 

 along the brow of the cliff never does duty for two 

 consecutive years. We are now in the neighbour- 



