onfime remarhaile Strata of Fiint, to^ 



which arc nearly as flat and fmooth as a wall. As thcfe fiffurt s arc 

 followed with convcnienc<J in working the pit, anextenfive face was 

 laid open when I faw it, and the appearance was as in the aimcx- 

 ed iketch. See Tab. VII. On examining the beds of flint 

 nearly, I was aftonifhed to find that every flint, though lying 

 in its place, and retaining perfectly its origin.'vl flmpe, was moi^ or 

 lefs burll and ihattered; fome fev.' were only fjilit into lir^e pieces, 

 but the greater part were broken into fir^all fragments, kind fome 

 abfolntely reduced to impalpable powder. From one which ha4 

 fuffered the mod the annexed f[:>cciraen was taken. The powder 

 was fo very fine that i had conceived it muft have been mixed with 

 chalk; but, on walliing it with diluted marine acid, I found that 

 it was purely filiceous. Indeed the chalk which lurrounds thcfc 

 flints is uncommonly folid, and docs not exhibit cracks or marks 

 of any violence except the great fifTures beforementioneJ. A 

 fpecimen of the flint powder after walhinr^. in the acid is feiit with 

 the other. 



I muft obferve that I had but impeife£l opportunity of infpcdling 

 the flints which lay at a didance from the fiffure ; fuch however as 

 i could fee in the bed then working appeared to have been lefs 

 ihattered in proportion as they were more remote from the fiflure^ 

 but all had fuffered more or lefs. 



About 200 yards below this pit, and nearer to Carifbrook village, 

 the road is in part cut through the chalk, and the beds of flint ex- 

 pofed by that means exhibit the fame appearances as thofe in the 

 pit above. 



The chalk pit above Shide Bridge, which is the only one I had an 

 opportunity of examining after my difcovery of th^ phxnomenon 

 above defcribed, prefents in fome degree the fame appearances, but 

 does not afford fo good an opportunity of viewing the flrata as that 

 at Carifbrook. The ilrata did not appear to me to Uc fo regularly 



P 2. nor 



