CHAPTER VII. 
LANDSLIP AT AXMOUTH, 1 839 ; BURMESE, AMERICAN, AND 
INDIAN COLLECTIONS OF FOSSILS ; THE MOA ; THE 
FOUNDATION OF THE SCHOOL OF MINES ; MEETINGS 
OF THE SOCIETY OF CIVIL ENGINEERS; INTEREST IN 
PISCICULTURE. 
N Christmas Day, 1839, occurred the remarkable land- 
slip at Axmouth, the extent of which, says Buckland, 
“ far exceeds the earthquakes of Calabria, and almost the 
vast volcanic fissures of the Val del Bove on the flanks of 
Etna.” Dr. and Mrs. Buckland were both quickly on the 
spot, and while the Professor made careful investigations 
into the cause of the catastrophe, his wife, with her clever 
pencil, made a series of careful drawings of this curious 
phenomenon, from one of which the illustration on the 
following page is taken. Buckland at an Ashmolean 
meeting thus describes the event :— 
“ The recent sinking of the land and elevation of the 
bottom of the sea at Axmouth, Devon, which occurred 
during two days, December 25th and 26th, have no analogy 
to the motions of an earthquake, but come from an entirely 
different cause. The cliffs on that part of the coast consist 
of strata of chalk and cherty sandstone, resting on a thick 
bed of loose sand or fox-mould, beneath which is a series 
of beds of fine clay impervious to water. Owing to the: 
