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210
The Fairy-Land of Science
·
Arabella B. Buckley
92
Another
way
in
which
rain
changes
the
surface
of
the
earth
is
by
sinking
down
through
loose
soil
from
the
top
of
a
cliff
to
a
depth
of
many
feet
till
it
comes
to
solid
rock,
and
then
lying
spread
over
a
wide
apace.
Here
it
makes
a
kind
of
watery
mud,
which
is
a
very
unsafe
foundation
for
the
hill
of
earth
above
it,
and
so
after
a
time
the
whole
mass
slips
down
and
makes
a
fresh
piece
of
land
at
the
foot
of
the
cliff.
If
you
have
ever
been
at
the
Isle
of
Wight
you
will
have
seen
an
undulating
strip
of
ground,
called
the
Undercliff,
at
Ventnor
and
other
places,
stretching
all
along
the
sea
below
the
high
cliffs.
This
land
was
once
at
the
top
of
the
cliff,
and
came
down
by
succession
of
landslips
such
as
we
have
been
describing.
A
very
great
landslip
of
this
kind
happened
in
the
memory
of
living
people,
at
Lyme
Regis,
in
Dorsetshire,
in
the
year
1839.
You
will
easily
see
how
in
forming
earth-pillars
and
causing
landslips
rain
changes
the
face
of
the
country,
but
these
are
only
rare
effects
of
water.
It
is
when
the
rain
collects
in
brooks
and
forms
rivers
that
it
is
most
busy
in
sculpturing
the
land.
Look
out
some
day
into
the
road
or
the
garden
where
the
ground
slopes
a
little,
and
watch
what
happens
during
a
shower
of
rain.
First
the
rain-drops
run
together
in
every
little
hollow
of
the
ground,
then
the
water
begins
to
flow
along
any
ruts
or
channels
it
can
find,
lying
here
and
there
in
pools,
but
always
making
its
way
gradually
down
the
slope.
Meanwhile
from
other
parts
of
the
ground
little
rills
are
coming,
and
these
all
meet
in
some
larger
ruts
where
the
ground
is
lowest,
making
one
great
stream,
which
at
last
empties
itself
into
the
gutter
or
an
area,
or
finds
its
way
down
some
grating.
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