Landslips are important agents in modifying the surface of the earth, frequently adding to the picturesque appearance of the district in which they occur, and occasionally causing considerable mischief by the destruction of villages, or the covering of fertile ground, as the fall of Rossberg in Switzerland in 1806, and in our own country the landslip near Axmouth, and the undercliff of the Isle of Wight, are familiar examples. They are generally caused by the action of water dissolving or loosening and carrying away some bed low down in the local series, when the upper strata, being no longer supported, break by their own weight, and slide down to a lower level, the amount of their displacement and the rapidity of their movements being determined by the inclination of the underlying beds.