2 14 EDWARD CHARLESWORTH, ESQ., F.G.S., ETC., ON THE 



parts of the world than England and Ireland. But I am 

 compelled to infer that in the matter of the Paramoudra 

 enigma, Dr. Buckland had no desire to trouble himself 

 further by an attempt at its solution. Happily, however, for 

 the interests of geological science, Dr. Buckland had a 

 contemporary of a very different stamp, and that was Sir 

 Charles Lyell. It was not possible that so remarkable an 

 incident hi geological history as massive flint tubes occurring 

 in the chalk of Antrim and Norfolk, and utterly unlike any 

 mineral or organic forms of matter previously known, could 

 be passed over by the lynx-eyed Sir Charles Lyell. Accord- 

 ingly we find in the volume of the " Proceedings of the 

 British Association" for the year 1838, that the following 

 paper by Sir Charles was read before the Geological section. 

 " It has long been known that near Norwich the horizontal beds 

 of flint nodules are crossed by perpendicular rows of much larger 

 flints. These larger and vertical flints are locally called ' Potstones/ 

 and are the same as those which occur in the chalk of Ireland, 

 and which have been described by Dr. Buckland under the name 

 ' Paramoudra.' At Horstead, about six miles from Norwich, an 

 excavation has been made nearly half a mile in length, through 

 26 feet of white chalk, covered by strata of sand, loam and shelly 

 gravel to the thickness of about 20 feet. The rows of vertical 

 ' Potstones ' are remarkable for their number and continuity. 

 It is affirmed by those who for more than twenty years have 

 been engaged in quarrying the chalk, that every column of these 

 vertical flints has been found to extend from the top to the bottom 

 of the chalk, so far as the quarrying has been carried downwards. 

 The columns occur at irregular distances from one-another, 

 usually from 20 to 30 feet ; and they are not portions of continuous 

 flints in a vertical position, but piles of single flints. Pew of the 

 flints are perfectly symmetrical, and they are very unequal in size, 

 usually from a foot to three feet in their vertical length. At the 

 point of intersection between these vertical and the ordinary 

 horizontal lines of flint there is no mutual interruption or shifting; 

 but the two are united as if both were formed at the same time. 

 Each Paramoudra is not a solid flint as is the case with the 

 horizontal flints, but contains within it a cylindrical chalk nucleus, 

 which when deprived of its flint envelope has the form and 

 smooth surface of a tree when stripped of its bark. This internal 

 mass of chalk is much harder than ordinary chalk, and does not 

 crumble under the action of frost. It is seen at the top and the 

 bottom of each Paramoudra. A ventriculite sponge was observed 

 on one occasion in the chalk-nucleus. In conclusion, Sir Charles 

 Lyell invites geologists, who reside near Norwich, to study these 

 phenomena more minutely, and, adverting to the late discoveries of 

 the distinguished German philosopher, Ehrenberg, declares his 



