136 THE FORMATION OF FLINTS 



the north in the North Downs and the south in the 

 South Downs. Besides the planes of separation between 

 the beds indicated by these lines, we shall discover 

 others, crossing the beds, often almost at right angles. 

 These are cracks or joints formed, probably, as a 

 consequence of the movement which raised the chalk 

 from the bottom of the sea, where it was originally 

 formed, into dry land. Running parallel w T ith the bed- 

 ding planes are long rows of nodules, of various size, 

 and irregular, often grotesque and fantastic, form. 

 These are the flints, as a tap with the hammer will 

 disclose. Besides these discontinuous or nodular layers 

 we shall find some which form thin, fairly regular 

 sheets, also running parallel with the bedding, as well 

 as others which cross it, filling the joints, or coating 

 their sides. There is even a fourth form in which flint 

 may occur that is, as large, hollow, cylindrical masses, 

 sometimes of great size, and not infrequently arranged one 

 over the other in a vertical series, like a rudely-jointed 

 column, which stands at right-angles to the bedding. 

 These are known as pot-stones, or paramoudras (Fig. 36). 

 The etymology of the last word is not clear. It is said 

 that when Dean Buckland came across these objects in 

 Antrim he asked his guide what name they went by. 

 The Irishman, who had heard the Dean calling stones by 

 strange names, was equal to the occasion, and invented 

 " paramoudra" without a moment's hesitation. 



In tracing the flint into association with the chalk, its 

 natural home, we have made a great advance in our 

 inquiry, for with the circumstances under which chalk 

 was formed we are now generally familiar, and a know- 

 ledge of these cannot fail to throw some light on the 

 origin of flint. 



Chalk consists of the calcareous remains of marine 

 animals, most of them very minute, and it is dis- 



