I cannot conceive any place enjoying greater natural advantages than Brighton, and it is incumbent on those who think it unhealthy to state from what source the insalubrity can have its origin, always excepting those artificial and preventable causes of disease which it creates within itself. For upwards of half the year the inhabitants breathe an atmosphere which has traversed the surface of several thousand miles of the great Atlantic Ocean. This at all events must be entirely free from all sources of disease. The staple of the land upon which the town stands, and for several miles round, is composed of chalk and sand, intermixed with flints, with the dip of the strata towards the sea, which, with the absence of any dense foliage in the surrounding district, has the effect of rendering the atmosphere of the place remarkably dry and bracing. Neither is there any low-lying marsh land, where the fresh and sea water mix and infect the atmosphere, or exposure of mud at the mouths of rivers at low tide, or, in fact, any source of malaria whatever within any distance of the town, which can possibly to any appreciable or injurious extent affect its atmosphere. The winds from the land side, therefore, are probably almost, if not entirely, as healthy as those from the sea. Brighton has also no tidal harbour, nor any exposure of mud at low tide containing decaying vegetable matter, which at many sea-side places, and some much frequented by the public, is not only very offensive, but very injurious to the health.” {10} CHAPTER III. THE ETYMOLOGY AND EARLY HISTORY OF BRIGHTON. The obscurity respecting the etymology of Brighton, or more properly speaking Brighthelmston, is much to be regretted. In the Domesday Book it is written _Brighthelmstun_, evidently derived from _Brighthelm_, the name of some person of eminence, to whom it belonged, and _tun_ the Saxon of town or dwelling. Bailey says that the name was given to the town by _St. Brighthelm_, a Saxon. Skinner says the town was so named from _Brighthelm_, a canonised bishop of Fontenoy, who lived about the middle of the 10th century. Stillingfleet and other authorities state that a Saxon bishop of that name resided here during the Heptarchy, and his name was given to the town. The last opinion is most to be relied on, as, when Ella and his three sons—Cimen, Wiencing, and Cisa,—landed in Sussex, at Shoreham, in 447, Bishop _Brighthelm_ accompanied them; and one of his successors resided at Aldrington, the _Portus Adurni_, or port of the river Adur, (where, near Fishersgate, till within the last forty years, was the entrance to the harbour from the sea), {11} and held a considerable portion of the land thereabout until 693, when he was killed in battle; but where the battle was fought no mention is made.