by a Reference to their organic Contents. 123 



My confidence, however, in the truth of the system was 

 not destined to remain long unshaken. The proceedings in 

 the geological section of the British Association, held at 

 Bristol, first created distrust in my mind ; the papers of 

 Mr. Charlesworth in the London and Edinburgh Phil. Mag., 

 and recently in Loudon's Mag. Nat. Hist., strengthened this 

 feeling; and my own observations on the eastern coast of 

 England, especially on that, part of it which forms the 

 northern boundary of the Thames estuary, have, I may 

 say, almost demonstrated that the principles of M. Deshayes 

 are not only not sure conductors to truth, but must, unless 

 modified to a degree that will affect their practical utility, 

 lead inevitably to error. In endeavouring to determine the age 

 of one tertiary deposit (the crag), the application of the system 

 has already involved its propounder and a celebrated natu- 

 ralist in a dilemma from which it is quite clear both cannot 

 escape with credit. Dr. Beck and M. Deshayes are directly 

 at issue on this point; nor does any authority exist, but that 

 of time, to which the difference between them can be referred ; 

 and that stern and uncompromising arbitrator may ulti- 

 mately determine that to neither can he tender a favourable 

 award. 



But, disregarding the facts stated, and the arguments ad- 

 vanced, by Mr. Charlesworth, I shall confine my attention exclu- 

 sively to the evidence in corroboration of his views, derived 

 from an examination of the causes now in operation on the 

 Kentish coast. From the time of the venerable Bede to the 

 present day, the degradation of the land, and the encroach- 

 ment of the sea, on this coast, have been repeatedly the 

 subjects of observation. The site of the devastation extends 

 from the westernmost point of the Isle of Sheppey to the 

 ruinous towers of the Reculver Church, comprising a distance 

 of more than twenty miles. It is difficult to mark with ac- 

 curacy the progress of the encroachment; but an approxima- 

 tion to the truth may be obtained by consulting a map of 

 Kent published in the reign of Henry VIII., and in which a 

 space of more than a mile-is assigned to the land which then 

 existed between the Roman wall bounding the village of 

 Reculver and the low-water mark. At the present time, the 

 village can hardly be said to exist; and the towers of its once 

 celebrated church now stand within 5 ft. of the perpendicular 

 cliffs. The same map discloses the existence of an inlet of 

 the sea, between Whitstable and Reculver, capable of afford- 

 ing shelter to small vessels, but of which not the slightest 

 trace now remains. 



The testimony of living witnesses sustains the fact of rapid 



