41 
Art of Making Gun-Flints . 
by subterraneous excavations, frequently at considerable 
expenee, while the others are neglected. 
On the banks of the Cher the flints are explored in a 
plain, by digging shafts to the depth of 40 or 50 feet, 
from whence horizontal galleries are carried into the only 
good stratum which is known. 
On the banks of the Seine in the hills of La Roche 
Griiion, the cliffs of chalk present steep precipices, where 
the strata of silex are exposed; and one of these strata, 
which contains good stones for gun-flints, is about six 
toises from the upper surface of the great mass of chalk. 
Instruments. 
The instruments used for fashioning the gun-flints are 
four in number : 
1. A small piece of iron or mace, with a square head, 
Plate 1. Fig. i. the weight of which does not exceed 
two pounds, or perhaps a pound and a half, with a 
handle seven or eight inches long. This instrument is 
not made of steel, because if it were too hard, its stroke 
might shatter the flint, instead of breaking it by a clear 
fracture. 
2. A hammer with two points, in which the position 
of the points is of consequence as to the nature of the 
stroke, Fig. 2. This hammer, which must be of good 
steel well hardened, and does not weigh more than six- 
teen ounces ; some do not exceed ten. It is fixed on a 
handle seven inches long, which passes through it in 
such a manner, that the points of the hammer are nearer 
the hand of the workman, than the center of gravity of 
the mass. The form and size of the hammers of different 
workmen vary a little, but this disposition of the points 
is common to them all, and is of consequence to the force 
and certainty of the blow. 
3. A little instrument named Roulette (roller) which 
represents a solid wheel, or segment of a cylinder, two 
Yol. i. F 
