FLINT is not frequently polished by the lapidary but is then treated like Carnelian. Until of late years one of the greatest uses of this substance was for procuring fire, but percussion caps and Congreve matches have nearly superseded this employment of flint, which still however enters largely into the composition of porcelain, and has given the name to Flint Glass, although in this manufacture it is now rejected in favor of the more available article, the pure sand obtained from Alum Bay, Isle of Wight, Maidstone, and elsewhere. Flint is employed in the mechanical arts, as the "houldering stone" for rubbing down to a smooth face the laps, buffs and glaze wheels of the cutler, and pulverized flint has also obtained the employment described in the succeeding article.

Flint. The late Mr. Larkin in finishing his beautiful wood models of crystals, employed calcined flint pulverized and glued upon wooden face wheels, as more fully described under the heads Glass Paper, and Wheels, article 59.