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 interf erred with or reversed, the intelligence of the individual 

 ant is not fitted to cope with them. 



November 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 anmial 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 own substance, and it is our imperfection when we cannot 

 read that history and that origin aright. 



I have put before you as 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 was 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. 



