THE KOMANCE OF 

 MODEKN GEOLOGY 



CHAPTER I 

 THE BUILDING OF THE EARTH 



EVERYBODY who has ever been to the coast of 

 these islands has become aware that changes in the 

 outline of the land are continually taking place. 

 In some parts of the east coast of England, such as that 

 which lies between Harwich and Walton-on-the-Naze, the 

 sea appears to be slowly encroaching on the land, so that 

 places which were grazing-fields twenty or thirty years 

 ago are now covered by the sea at high tide, and at low 

 tide are mere sandy wastes threaded by rivnlets of sea- 

 water. On the south coast of the Isle of Wight, between 

 Sandown and the Culver Cliff, which is the most easterly 

 point, the same loss of land is going on in another way. 

 Some years ago a fort stood rather near the edge of the 

 cliff, and it would have been possible to climb round the 

 seaward wall of the fort. It is not possible now, for the 

 outer sea-wall of the fort has long ago slipped into the 



