440 



THE NATURE BOOK 



as seen at Swanage is computed at have to tell of the almost infinite age of 



not less than 2.000 feet. This \\\^alden the earth, and the immense powers of 



formation is of extraordinary interest. Nature ! Standing at the loot of those 



because its fossil remains gi\e us cliffs, surrounded by the gigantic ruins 



v. 



"FAR ABOVE THE REACH OF THE WAVES TO-DAY THESE WONDERFUL ROCKS, 

 COMPOSED OF FOSSIL OYSTER SHELLS, TELL HOW THE CLIFFS WERE 

 FORMED AT THE BOTTOM OF AN ANCIENT SEA." 



some insight into the story of the 

 nature of the terrestrial fauna of that 

 epoch in the history of the earth known 

 to geologists as the Lower Cretaceous, 

 and also because it underlies a deep-sea 

 deposit. No one with the least spark of 

 imagination or intelligence can look upon 

 those wonderful cliffs between Swanage 

 and Lulworth Cove without being deeply 

 impressed. What an eloquent story they 



of Nature's masonry, with the air full of 

 the majestic music of the sea and wind, 

 how insignificant the work of man be- 

 comes ; how poor and paltry the strife, 

 cheating, petty meanness ami utter 

 selfishness of his vaunted twentieth- 

 century civiHsation ! 



No figures can convey to the human 

 mind the period of time required for the 

 formation of these Wealden and Purbeck 



