672 - Physiography. [October, 
streamlet fall into a river. Some of the soil of the field is thus 
carried by every heavy shower of rain into the ditch, and thence 
into the river. After a wet day we shall find that all the tiny 
rills, the little rivulets, the streams, and the great rivers them- 
selves, are muddy and thick. This mud is nearly all derived from 
the soil of the land which lies in the river-valley. Thus the land 
is always flowing downwards to the sea; not a particle can get up 
again when once it has flowed even a few feet in its downward 
course; and this action is going on Wherever rain falls upon the 
ata of the land. 
But though the surface layer is, in this way, being constantly 
washed off the fields, the soil does not lessen in quantity. For 
as fast as material is carried away by the rain, so fast does the 
same agent, aided by weathering action, prepare fresh soil, to be 
treated in a similar manner. At the same time we must remem- 
ber that, though the amount of soil does not grow less, the 
amount of land above the waters of the ocean does diminish. 
Does this seem strange? A rough analogy may serve to make 
it clear. A man possesses a certain amount of money, most of 
which is in the bank, and a small amount for immediate use in his- 
waistcoat pocket. As fast as his ready cash disappears he draws 
a check on his banker, and in this way his waistcoat pocket has a 
more or less constant supply. Practically speaking, therefore, his 
ready cash does not diminish, though his balance at the bankers 
does not remain equally constant, but decreases day by day, at a 
rate which would shortly lead to bankruptcy if he were not care- 
ful that there should be a supply equal to the demand. Now the 
soil is the ready cash, and the strata of England the balance at 
the bank. Rainfall is continually tending to diminish the amount 
of soil or ready cash, which is made good by a fresh supply from 
the bank. It is perfectly obvious, however, that the balance at 
the bankers must decrease, and that in the course of ages England 
must be entirely washed away into the sea of geological bank- 
ruptcy unless the bank receive a fresh supply; unless, in other 
words, by the force of elevation, fresh land be raised from time to 
time above the waters of the ocean. 
With regard to the influence of rain on the physical aspect ofa a 
country, it may be said that viewed ona large scale and ina 
_ general way, this agent exercises a softening effect on scenery ; in 
those areas where the strata are of a soft and easily yielding 
