2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE COTTESVVOLD CLUB 



It was decided that the Field Meetings for the year 

 should be held at 



Yate and Chipping Sodbury 

 Frocesler and Uley 

 Caerleon and Caerwent 

 Newent. 



During the winter Pa})ers were read by : — 

 Mr Cornford on "The Hibernation of Animals." 

 Mr Wethered on "The Dei)th of the Sea in Past Epochs." 

 Mr John Sawyer on "The Pre-Saxon Occupation of the 



Central Cotteswolds," and by 

 Mr Buckman on " Geological Non-sequence." 



These papers, which were all of great interest, will be 

 [)rinted in the forthcoming volume of Proceedings. 



The first Field Meeting of the Club was held on 

 Monday, 27th May, when about 20 members met at Yate 

 Station, and first visited the Eggshill Colliery, where many 

 characteristic fossils of the coal period were exhibited, 

 and also the remains of a pump made of oak, which there 

 is reason to believe was used earlier than the introduction 

 of the first Nev^'comen Engine in 17 12. 



On the way to Yate Court a stay was made to enable 

 members to see some celestine dej)Osits which are being 

 quarried just below the surface of the ground. The 

 existence of celestine in this locality is a comparatively 

 recent discovery, but it has now been traced in the 

 Triassic Marl from near the base of Sodbury Hill across 

 the plain to Aust Clifl'. Its chief commercial value is for 

 sugar refining, and for this purpose it is largely exported 

 to Germany. Mr Madan described the chemical processes 

 which are rather numerous and complicated, but the main 

 facts are these : from Celestine (the native form of 

 Strontium Sulphate) is prepared Strontium Hydrate, a 

 substance very analogous to " slaked lime," and this 

 substance when added to solutions containing sugar, 

 forms with the sugar a compound which readily separates 



