12 
mitted instinct of the ant comes into play and is of so high an order, 
that it enables them to perform certain automatic and concerted 
actions of a very elaborate character, but that when these conditions 
are interferred with or reversed, the intelligence of the individual 
ant is not fitted to cope with them. 
Novemper 10th, 1885, 
The meeting was held in the Committee Room at the Town Hall. 
The attendance was very large, Dr. FitzGerald took the chair, and 
called upon the Secretary to read the following paper on 
“A FLINT STONE.” 
It is a very ordinary object, common almost everywhere, at 
least in this part of England. They lie in accumulated heaps 
along the road side, they are scattered by thousands in the thin 
soil of our cultivated hill tops. So common, and so ordinary, and 
to the casual observer so unattractive, that one can hardly be 
expected to make them ‘things of beauty.’ Yet I hope to show 
you that great interest attaches to them, that they present knotty 
problems to the geologist, that uulikely as it may seem at first sight, 
they are closely connected with life, both animal and vegetable, 
and that some at least of the highly prized gems that we wear owe 
their origin to them, or have a common origin with them; and 
most of this information can be extracted from the flint stones 
themselves. For it is true, as more than one writer has said, that 
every pebble by the road side contains its own history, compressed 
in its ownsubstance, and it is our imperfection when we cannot 
read that history and that origin aright. 
I have put before youas specimens one or two ot the commonest 
flint stones, in no way different or superior to their fellows. [If it 
had been possible I would have put on the table one that would 
certainly have attracted all your attention—a monster from among 
his kind. Those of our members who have been with us to Lydden 
Spout will probably remember the two gigantic flints standing © 
before the old man’s cottage. One of these wag nearly a yard 
across, and I day say weighed a couple of hundred weights. It 
would have formed a worthy visible text for a lecture, but as you 
may guess, there were difficulties of transport in the way, and © 
questions of the resisting power of our table would arise, so that we © 
can only make a reference to it. 
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