212 
GEOXOGICAL CHANGES OF THE 
EARTH* 
the following obser\'at!ons and lefleclions on 
curious and iiUerestin;: subject. 
this 
lll?V 
They apply the P )• 
in a way to which they may be applied to any"', 
indicate how much we are daily surrounded bv ' 
ders of creation, the process of which, as Sa 
observ'es, is never ceasing. In passing over the " 
of Raines Common, he introduces the follow'ifi’ 
graphs, p. 197, 
On this Common, nature still appears to 
be 
meval and unfinished state. The entire flat fron' , it-t' 
is evidently a mere 
ely modern date, i'^ 
ground to the Thames, 
formation, of com])aratively 
the rocky ruins which the rains, in a series ot ‘'=1,(1-’“ l 
washed from the high grouiids, and further aug'."‘j^ 
the decay of local vegetation. The adjacent 
being elevated above the action of the fresh jiiit’ j 
IX) doubt marine formations, created by tlie flowinSV’ (ii'i 
dtAing the four thbusand years when the earth 'ViW 
perihelion during our summer months ; which 
twelve and seven thousand years since. The fltjh 
• ' 'll 0^ ■ 
water formation, on which I was walking, stie.j[,;i.’ 
proaches its completion ; and the desiccated 
yet fully defined the boundaries of tlie river. 
tides, particukirly when the line of the moon’s 
ddes with tlie syzygies, or when the ascending *. .jt 
the vernal equinox, or after heavy rains, tho 
overflows its banks, and indicates its originally 
scite under ordinarv circumstances. 
hes>‘5 
“ The state of traasition also appears in niati’b 
and ponds, which, but for the interference ot fii''- 
many ages ago, have been filled up with decay • 
and the remains of undisturbed vesfetatioii 
clccay,^^,. 1 
1. Bi'" V: 
become agents of the never-ceasing ciiEA'f*; j|,ii 
- • ■ .. . ■- ot , 
means of giving greater equality to Uie face 01 .^pillly 
The sea, as it retired, either abruptly from som® 
or gradually from others, left dry land, consisting 
and swelling liills, disposed in all the variety .”u- il'’’,;" 
avvt-*AiAi^ AAtiAO) iii ciai iiac v«iav.-c^ , 
be con.sequential on a succession of floods and eb^ 
These downs, acted 
several tliousand years, , _ ^ 
were mechanically, or in solution, carried otl 
to the lowest levels, tlie elevations being thereby j,||,(1j 
and tlie valleys proportionally raised. The fo"" 
