418 ON THE FORMATION OF THE CHALK STRATA, &C. 



new shape, produced the alcyonic flints along with the tube- 

 rose masses we meet with. It may be observed, that these 

 alcyonia occur only in certain districts, and generally among 

 that immense mass of loose detritus * with which a large por- 

 tion of our southern counties are covered, — the remains, no 

 doubt, of chalk strata, which were probably demolished during 

 the great exertion of raising them from the bottom of the 

 ocean to the surface of dry land. These alcyonia, and other 

 zoophytic remains, afford strong corroborative proof of the ori- 

 ginal site of the flint, and not a single observation we are ac- 

 quainted with tends to subvert that fact. Nothing which 

 could have existed on the surface of the earth has ever been 

 found in chalk ; and so perfect are the remains which are oc- 

 casionally found in it, that there is reason to conclude, that, in 

 many instances, they could not have been long deprived of 

 life. In what state the ocean was at the time it contained in 

 solution the strata we have now been treating of, it is not my 

 intention to investigate ; it is one of those hidden mysteries of 

 the All-powerful Creator which we must be content to consi- 

 der as beyond the reach of human investigation. 



To contemplate and to admire the works of Nature, is a 

 field open and patent to us all ; and surely the order, the beau- 

 ty, and the simplicity of every thing we meet with, are calcu- 

 lated to impress the thoughtful mind, with an humble and re- 

 spectful admiration of the Almighty Power which is every 

 where displayed, together with a true sense of our own igno- 

 rance and deficiency, in all that appertains to the undefinable 

 wisdom we trace, throughout every department of the natural 

 world. 



* I learnt from Mr Hodgkin, that they had recently been found in situ in the 

 vicinity of Lewis, 



XXIX. 



