334 
CHAP. XL 
RESULTS OF THE GEOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE 
SOUTH-EAST OF ENGLAND. 
In this chapter we propose to lay before the reader 
a summary of the geological phenomena described 
in the preceding pages, and the inferences result- 
ing therefrom ; bearing in mind the admirable 
remark of a distinguished philosopher, that “ the 
language of theory can never fall from our lips 
with any grace or fitness, unless it appear as the 
simple enunciation of those general facts, with 
which, by observation alone, we have become ac- 
quainted.”* Happily, the evidence of the great 
physical mutations, and important changes in or- 
ganic life, which have taken place in this part of 
the earth during the geological periods to which 
our researches refer, is so clear and satisfactory, 
that even the general reader will perceive that our 
deductions, extraordinary as they may appear, natu- 
rally result from the facts themselves. 
The several formations or groups of strata, jire- 
viously described, may be regarded as geological 
chronometers, marking certain distinct epochs or 
* Professor Sedgwick’s Annual Aildress to tlie (Geological Society 
of London. 18.30. 
