The good example which has been set us by Mr. Salter to look out for traces of mechanical and vital agencies in the Cambrian beds is worthy to be followed by every brother of the hammer; and instead of waiting, like Micawber, for “something to turn up,” to set heartily to work and turn up the stones for ourselves. It is well known what good work Mr. Salter has done in the Cambrians of the Longmynd, towards clearing up the circumstances under which those rocks were deposited, as well as in tracing the remains of their ancient life; but much remains to be done ere this formation is as well known as the others. One thing, however, is certain, that the Cambrians and the Drift are at present the “lions” of the geological world, so that the study need not suffer on the ground of unpopularity.

Being out one day (during a recent visit to the Isle of Man), at Dalby, where the Cambrian rocks are quarried for flags by a newly-formed slate-company, I observed that many of the slabs were most decidedly ripple-marked. This is, I believe, the first time that such appearances have been observed in the island; indeed, with the exception of some doubtful fucoids, no fossils have been met with in these beds.

The minds of the British public, accustomed to review the complex phenomena of geology and palæontology in the Old, are apt to neglect the equally interesting evidences afforded to them of past life in the New World. American palæontology is distinguished not because the mighty hemisphere, now the seat of political convulsions, has not passed through analogous phases of life-stages to those presented by the elder continent, nor because the extinct fauna of America is less interesting than that of Europe, Asia, or Australia, nor that the most eminent men in both worlds have omitted to call attention to the stupendous monuments of bygone existence in the pampas of La Plata or on the shores of Patagonia, but because the public mind has not yet sufficiently realized the idea that during the period whilst Europe and Asia underwent the manifold and changing influences of geological time, like conditions were passed through in America.

A tradition exists in the minds of all the earliest aboriginal nations of America, on the banks of the Missouri, at Manta, at Punta St. Elena in Ecuador, at Suacha in New Granada, at Tarija on the eastern slopes of the Andes, and at Tagua-tagua in the south of Chile, that a vast nation of colossal human beings existed before the present inhabitants. These giants, the credulous and imaginative mind of the native supposed, were destroyed by the deities, like the old race of Titans by the Olympian gods, or the Hrimthursar—the frost-giants of ice and snow—by the supporters of Odin and the Æsir in the Norse mythology.

Those who are familiar with Sir Charles Lyell's ‘Principles of Geology’ will remember the illustrations given, in the twentieth chapter of his able and most philosophical book, of the action of the sea on various parts of the coasts of Britain. The changes that have taken place in some parts, even within the historical period, have been very considerable, and perhaps none more so than on the eastern and south-eastern coasts of England, where the encroachments of the sea seem to have been of the most destructive character. From the western coast of the Isle of Sheppey, extending eastwards to Herne Bay, Reculver, and Thanet, the destructive action of both the sea and the other elements has been witnessed by many in our own time; and every year tells its history of a change in some part of this line of coast.

I had long contemplated a visit to Reculver, and in the month of June last the opportunity of seeing this part of the coast was afforded me. No place is more accessible from London than Herne Bay; the visitor has the opportunity of running down either by steamer from London Bridge, or by the London, Chatham, and Dover Railway from either the London Bridge or Victoria stations. If time is an object, the latter is preferable, and it was the route I chose, which enabled me to see and learn all that I desired in a single day.

The Kentish Ragstone is a source of very considerable trade to Maidstone, and gives employment to many workmen. Several barges are constantly engaged in conveying to the coasts of Kent and Sussex, in the marshes of which it is very extensively employed for the banks or sea-walls. In Romney Marsh and on the eastern side of the Isle of Sheppey a large expenditure is yearly incurred in thus protecting large and valuable tracts of land from the ravages of the sea. The ragstone is also extensively used as a road-stone and for buildings, large quantities of the stone being sent to London and other places especially for the former purpose. A small quantity is burnt into lime of a very superior quality; but the abundance of chalk in this neighbourhood, and the greater cheapness of that rock, prevents the general use of the stronger but more costly stone-lime.

Many handsome buildings in Maidstone and other places in the county are built of it. Of these in Maidstone may be mentioned the new gaol, the lunatic asylum, and the new church. Of ancient buildings constructed of it are the old parish church of All Saints, the Episcopal Palace and College. Many of the London churches, and nearly all of those on the banks of the Thames and Medway, have a great proportion of this stone in their walls; and proofs of its durability and early application to building purposes may be seen in the present condition of Allington and Rochester castles, and most of the bridges from Aylesford to Tunbridge.