DISCOVERY 



183 



had lain so many days under the sod, corruption had 

 not approached him, and (what strangely affected all 

 of us) his lips and chin were mantled with a swarthy 

 beard." The Master returned for one brief moment 

 to life, and then sank into that eternal sleep which 

 he had simulated for over a week. 



Modem Industries — 11. 



Lime and Whiting Manufacture 

 in Lincolnshire 



By R. C. Skyring Walters, B.Sc, 

 Assoc. M.Inst.C.E. 



In a previous commimication some of the Great Chalk 

 excavations at Barton-upon-Humber were described in 

 connection with the Portland Cement Industry. It is 

 now proposed to describe some quarries, also very large, 



" Paramoudras," or in the form of regular layers which 

 can be traced all round the quarry. 



The origin of chalk is now well known ; that is, it is 

 an assemblage of the shells of minute marine organisms 

 and is comparable to, though not necessarily identical 

 with, the ooze or mud found beneath the Atlantic 

 to-day. The origin of flint is verj^ obscure. An old 

 geologist once was so hardy as to say that flint was 

 a molten lava that had thrust its way out from the 

 centre of the earth — how it arranged itself in such 

 regular layers was difficult to explain ! Modem geo- 

 logists and chemists affirm that flint is the siliceous 

 (or sandy) component of chalk which has separated out 

 into layers for some unknown reason ; a recent sug- 

 gestion being that the whole mass of chalk was once 

 in a state of saturation with a solution of sOica diffused 

 through it. The silica separated itself into bands of 

 flint, absent in the " Lower " but becoming more 

 numerous towards the " Middle " and " Upper " 

 chalks. A striking analogy to this theory may be 

 obtained by inserting certain chemicals in a test-tube 



i^^ 



^ 



^y ^^ 



I.— GEXERAI, VIEW OF .\ - MIDDLE CHAEK " QUARRY. 



situated four to six miles south of the Humber. Here 

 the chalk comprises what geologists call the " Middle " 

 Chalk, which is of a very different character from that 

 of the " Lower " Chalk at Barton. The Middle Chalk 

 contains a great deal more flint than the Lower Chalk. 

 The previous article described how the pure, almost 

 flintless chalk was mixed with river mud or clay and 

 burnt to Portland cement at the works erected on the 

 Humber side. But inland, not only are there no 

 facilities for water-transport, but there is little or no 

 suitable clay at the surface, and the chalk is usually 

 fuU of flint either in the form of smooth nodules, some 

 of which attain a diameter of 3 or 4 feet and are called 



of gelatine. These chemicals separate out into well- 

 deftned rings comparable to flint, those at the middle 

 of the test-tube being near together, while those farther 

 from the middle are farther apart ; the bands being 

 absent altogether at the top and bottom. 



In Lincolnshire the " Lower Chalk " consists of a 

 greyish-white flintless chalk arranged almost horizon- 

 tally in beds or layers 50 feet thick. This is divided from 

 the " Middle Chalk " by a band of marl (chalky clay) 

 about 2 feet thick. The " Middle Chalk " is a hard 

 white chalk 100 feet thick with scattered flints and 

 layers of flint-nodules in the upper part. The " LTpper 

 Chalk " has onlj- comparative Ij' recently been dis- 



