GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE CHALK. 6 
The following is his brief but accurate account of the Chalk in 
Wilts, which he describes as of three sorts : — 
1. That of the most elevated parts of Hants and Wilts, which “ is 
milk-white,* fine in its grain, and smooth when cut, w T rites readily on 
wood, and is fit for the cooper, for whiting, for lime, and for manure. 
It is the creta scriptoria of Linnaeus.” 
2. “ In descending the hills from Everly to the Yale of Pewsey a 
second bed appears, hard, rubbly, and tinctured with green, unproper 
for the uses to which the former is applied, and fit only for the high¬ 
ways.” 
3. “ Under this we find what is with us called a malmy chalk (■ nmrga 
cretacea Lin.), unctuous to the touch, of a grey or greenish white, unfit 
for any of the fore-mentioned purposes.” 
In the second of the above “ sorts ” it is evident that we have a 
description of the Chalk Rock which is now taken as the base of the 
ITpper Chalk, and the third sort is in all probability the Lower 
Chalk which has its greatest thickness in Wiltshire, and is in parts 
tough and marly. 
In the year 1818 two geologists were studying the Chalk of the 
south-east of England, and both published some account of its com¬ 
ponent parts. These were G. A. Mantell and William Phillips. 
Mantell’s first publication was in that year, and was entitled “ A 
Sketch of the Geological Structure of the South-eastern part of 
Sussex.” * In this he describes the “ Chalk formation ” as comprising 
(a) Blue Marl, (6) Chalk Marl, (c) Lower or Hard Chalk, (d) Upper 
or Flinty Chalk. His Blue Marl, however, was really the Gault, 
so that his division of the Chalk was very little more than that of 
Smith’s division into flintless and hint-bearing chalk. 
About the same time W. Phillips had examined the fine exposure 
of the Chalk in the cliffs near Folkestone and Dover, but his memoir 
though read to the Geological Society in 1818, w T as not published 
till 1821.f His account is excellent so far as it goes, and the litho¬ 
logical characters of his several subdivisions are carefully described. 
The following is his grouping of the beds : — 
1. Chalk with numerous flints, 350 feet, in two parts : . 
I, With few organic remains. 
II. With many organic remains. 
2. Chalk with few flints, 130 feet. 
3. Chalk without flints, in two parts : 
I. With many organic remains, hard and rough, 90 feet. 
II. With few organic remains, soft and whitish, 50 feet. 
4. The Grey Chalk, estimated at 200 feet. 
The first division is what is generally known as Upper Chalk, its 
lower part being “ the nodular chalk of Dover,” which includes the 
equivalent of the Chalk Rock. . 
No. 2 and the upper part of No. 3 answer to what is now called 
the Middle Chalk, or, more accurately speaking, No. 2 is the 
zone of Terebratulina, and 3 I. includes the zone of Rhynclionella 
* In the Provincial Magazine for August, 1818. 
t Trans. Geol. Soc., Vol. v. p. 1. 
4219 - ' A 2 
