USE OF TERMS FEINT AND CHERT 
171 
of silica, more or less pure, sometimes white or light gray, and 
often differently colored by iron (yellow, red, or brown) and other 
substances, in some cases of similar but often of different or un- 
certain origin, have been variously termed jasper, jaspilite, horn- 
stone, novaculite, etc. In places like the jaspilites of the Lake 
Superior region, or the novaculites of Arkansas, they may form 
beds of considerable importance.” 
H. Ries . — Economic Geology, 1910. 
The author considers flint or chert as a single term and calls 
them nodules in limestone and chalk. However, he does say that 
our main supplies of flint come from France, England and Nor- 
way where extensive chalk deposits occur. 
Tarr & Martin . — College Physiography, 1918, page 20. 
The whole matter is dismissed by a sentence: “The minerals 
opal, chalcedony, agate and jasper are impure varieties of silica, 
as in the rock flint, or chert.” 
The Americana Encyclopaedia. 
Chert : — “A cryptocrystalline variety of quartz closely related 
to flint. It is found in limestone and other stratified rocks.” 
Flint : —“A subvitreous variety of quartz resembling chalcedony 
somewhat and occurs chiefly in the chalk of England 
and France.” 
Encyclopaedia Britannica . — Eleventh Edition. 
Flint : — A dark gray, or dark brown cryptocrystalline sub- 
stance which has almost a vitreous luster, a splintery, conchoidal 
fracture and is opaque. Its specific gravity is 2.6. “Flint occurs 
primarily as concretions, veins and tabular masses in the white 
chalk in such localities as the south of England. Chert is a coarser 
and less perfectly homogenous substance of the same nature and 
composition as flint. It is gray, brown or black, and commonly 
occurs in limestone in the same way as flint occurs in chalk.” 
Under concretions : — “Another very important series of concre- 
tionary structures are the flint nodules which occur in chalk, and 
the patches and bands of chert which are found in limestone. 
— John Smith Flett. 
CONCLUSION 
The question resolves itself into two parts : first the distinction, 
if any, between the terms, and second the present usage or exact 
meaning of the two. 
Is there a difference between flint and chert? Apparently 
