248 Mr. Webster on the Strata lying over the ChalL 



extraordinary phenomena. From the correspondence in the situa- 

 tion of the chalk and the accompanying strata in the Isle of Wight 

 and Dorsetshire, it should seem, that the range of chalk hills in 

 each of these places was at first united ; and thus a marine gulph 

 was formed, open to the east, in which a part of the depositions at 

 that time going on in the ocean subsided. 



The observations of several geologists have shewn the natural 

 tendency which the sea has to fill up asstuaries, and to throw up 

 bars across their mouths by the accumulation of pebbles and sand. 

 Many remarkable instances of this process have been observed on 

 the shores of the Baltic, and even in this country. It appears also 

 that such gulphs and bays are frequently converted into freshwater 

 lakes, of which Loo Poole in Cornwall is an excellent example. 



As it is most philosophical to seek for the solution of natural 

 phenomena from known causes, might we not suppose that a similar 

 circumstance has converted the gulph we have contemplated (now 

 partly occupied by the Solent) into a lake of fresh water ? If the 

 size of the bar necessary for this purpose should appear extraordi- 

 nary, we have only to recollect the Chesil bank, which now joins 

 the Isle of Portland to the main land j and many others of the 

 same description. 



With this subject in my mind, while examining the cliff at 

 Brighton, which has been already described, I could not resist the 

 idea that it might possibly be the remains of this ancient inclosure 

 of the lake. That it exhibits the vestiges of a vast and ancient ac- 

 cumulation well fitted for this purpose, there can be little doubt; and 

 it is evident, that it has extended in the necessary direction, 

 it being now a vertical section of what must have run out far into 

 the sea. 



Whether such a supposition as this can afford a solution of the 



