onfome remarlable Strata of Flint. 1J07 



which are nearly as flat and fmooth as a wall. As thefe fifTures are 

 toliowcd with convenience in working the pit, an extenfive face was 

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

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

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

 in its place, and retaining perfectly its original fliape, was more or 

 lefs burft and ihattered; fome few were only fplit into large pieces, 

 but the greater part Were broken into fmall fragnnents, and fame 

 nbfolutely reduced to impalpable pcAvder. From one which had 

 fnffered the mod the annexed fpecimen was taken. The powder 

 was fo very fine that I had conceived it mud have been mixed with 

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

 it was purely filiceous. Indeed the chalk which furrounds thefe 

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

 of any violence except the great fifTures beforementioned. A 

 fpecimen of the flint powder after wafhing in the acid is feiit with 

 the other. 



1 muft obferve that I had but imperfe<Sl opportunity of infpciSbing 

 the flints which lay at a diftancc from the fiifure ; 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 fiflTure; 

 but all had fuff^ered 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 ray difcovery of the phaenomenon 

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

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

 at Cariibiook. The ftrata did not appear to me to lie fo regulaily 



P ^ nor 



