Lign. 9:—View of Brighton Cliffs; looking eastward from Kemp Town.[I]
| a. Cliff's composed of chalk rubble. |
| b. Ancient elevated sea-beach. |
| c. Chalk forming the base of the Cliffs. |
[I] [Note V.] Brighton Cliffs.
BRIGHTON CLIFFS.
Now we must bear in mind, that had the chalk remained at the bottom of the deep sea in which it was originally deposited, it would not have been exposed to these destructive operations. It is therefore manifest, that at some very distant period of the earth's physical history, the bed of the Chalk-ocean was broken up, extensive areas were protruded above the waters, lines of sea-cliffs were formed, and boulders, sand, and shingle accumulated at their base. Subsequent elevations of the land took place, and finally, the sea-beach was raised to its present situation, which is several hundred feet above the level of the sea!
Every part of the earth's surface presents unequivocal proofs that the elevation of the bed of the ocean in some places, and the subsidence of the dry land in others, have been, and are still, going on; and that, in truth, the continual changes in the relative position of the land and water, are the effects of laws which the Divine Author of the Universe has impressed on matter, and thus rendered it capable of perpetual renovation:—
Art, Empire, Earth itself, to change are doomed;
Earthquakes have raised to heaven the humble vale,
And gulfs the mountain's mighty mass entombed,
And where the Atlantic rolls wide continents have bloomed.
Beattie.