But, besides this argument taken from what does not appear, the actual
form in which those flinty masses are found, demonstrates, _first_,
That they have been introduced among those strata in a fluid state, by
injection from some other place. 2_dly_, That they have been dispersed
in a variety of ways among those strata, then deeply immersed at the
bottom of the sea; and, _lastly_, That they have been there congealed
from the state of fusion, and have remained in that situation, while
those strata have been removed from the bottom of the ocean to the
surface of the present land.
To describe those particular appearances would draw this paper beyond
the bounds of an essay. We must, therefore, refer those who would
inquire more minutely into the subject, to examine the chalk-countries
of France and England, in which the flint is found variously formed; the
land-hills interspersed among those chalk-countries, which have been
also injected by melted flint; and the pudding-stone of England, which
I have not seen in its natural situation. More particularly, I would
recommend an examination of the insulated masses of stone, found in
the sand-hills by the city of Brussels; a stone which is formed by an
injection of flint among sand, similar to that which, in a body of
gravel, had formed the pudding-stone of England[7].
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