ART OF MAKING GUN-FLINTS'. $9 



the fame perfection of figure as would require more than an 

 hour's labour, if the fections were to be made by grinding, 

 againft harder fubftances, or friction with emery. Lefs than 

 a farthing will pay for a gun-flint from the hand of the work- 

 man, but fifty times that fum would be infufncient lor its 

 purchafe if it were falhioned by any other 'procefs. 



The author regularly proceeds to examine firft the material Order of defcrip- 

 beft adapted to the ufe in queftion, the inilruments employed,. ion * 

 and the manipulation by which the ftones are falhioned. 



With regard to the material, every kind of flone, capable The material or 

 of producing ftrong fparks when ftruck againft fteel, may. be ftone moft &u 

 ufed as a gun-flint, if it can but be falhioned by fimple and 

 cheap means. But even in this cafe there are tome motives 

 of preference ; fuch, for. example, as that the fcintillatibn 

 mould be produced with the leaft poflible blow, and with no. 

 confiderable wear or abration of the fteel. Thefe reafons. of. 

 predilection are in favour of the filiceous Hones, when com-: 

 pared with thofe which are called quartzofe. But the filex 

 or flint, properly fo called, poffeffes not only this kind o£ 

 fuperiority, but another property, that it is more particularly, 

 fufceptible of being broken into fragments or plates, which 

 require but very little labour to give them the requifite form 

 and dimenfions. 



Among the filex it is therefore that the fabrication of gun- Silex or flint 

 flints have found the material truly proper for the exercife f P refered t0 



J r l ... . quartz, becaiue 



the art. And among the numerous varieties of this fpecies of-eafily falhioned. 



ftone, there is only one which can be advantageoufly falhioned 



by the hammer alone. The agates and chalcedonies, which 



are alfo applied to this ufe, are brought to the requifite form 



by the mill of the lapidary. The makers of gun-flints in 



France denominate the ftone of which they make ufe cailiou, 



and they themfelves are called caillouteurs. The word cailiou 



is ufed by them to denote the beft and moft ferviceable kind. 



of flint ; whereas, in the other parts of France, it denotes a 



pebble ; that is to fay, a rounded ftone, whatever may be its 



nature. 



The flint of the workmen in gun-flints belongs to that The trutJiUx 

 fpecies of filex which naturalifts have denominated lilex gre- J ^ , " ^^a * is ^ carcc, 

 garius, filex ignarius, or the feuerftein of the Germans, &c. 

 But every coarfe flint is not proper for this ufe. In fact, the 

 beft ftone is far from being plentiful in nature. Many coun- 

 tries - 



