THE RECORD OF THE ROCKS
lessly inconsistent with the most readily ascertained facts revealed in any quarry or coast section. But until it is put in clearer form it is not worth discussion. It will be more to the point to see what really is the nature of the argument which these critics travesty.
When I was at school at Winchester, which is one of the oldest cities of England, new drains were laid down and a deep trench was dug along a street in ground that had never been disturbed before. (Fig. 1.) Passing this trench every
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Fig. 1.—Section exposed in a city street.
day, I acquired many articles that the workmen threw out. Just below the latest road metal they found coins of the Georges and fragments of china; at a lower level they turned up a bit of green glazed mediaeval earthenware; below this, among other Roman remains, was a piece of the red ware known as Samian; still lower was a fragment of the rough black earthen pottery made in Britain before the Romans came. These objects, which I still possess, with various coins and other things, were all in such an order that the historically oldest lay at the greatest depth. From a layer below these I obtained a piece of hard bone, shaped
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