THE HAMPSHIRE ANTIQUARY NATURALIST. 



the time of Caesar discovered the short route to the 

 tin islands off the coast of Galicia (north-west of 

 Spain), the British trade almost ceased, so that when 

 Strabo wrote (1-19 A.D.) tin was no longer exported 

 from Britain." 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meterological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, underthe direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson. K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., R.E. Lat. 50 

 54*50" N. ; long. i24'o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J.T. Cook. 



Black bulb in vacuo. 



THE HAMPSHIRE INDEPENDENT, April 26, 1890. 



THE CLAYS OF HAMPSHIRE. 

 At the annual conversazione of the Hampshire 

 Literary and Philosophical Society and the Hampshire 

 Field Club at the Hartley Institution, Southampton, on 

 April 23, Mr. T. W. Shore delivered an address on 

 " The Clays of Hampshire and their economic uses," 

 which was illustrated by specimens. Mr. Shore spoke 

 of the efforts which were being made to extract 

 aluminium from clay, and said that should these prove 

 successful, they would be able to start an entirely 

 new industry in Hampshire. Hampshire was 

 singular in possessing a large number of 

 clays, and he would call attention to twelve 

 or thirteen of these of different geological 

 ages. The oldest of the clays was the Wealden 

 tound in the Isle of Wight, and made into bricks 

 at Sandown. Next in age was the Gault a blue clay 

 which existed in the eastern part of the county on 

 the surface of the earth. He produced a specimen 

 from Alton, and said it made a brick similar in colour 

 to those used in the fermation of Above Bar Chapel. 

 The next clay was the Lower Greensand formation, 



found in the Isle of Wight and the 

 eastern part of Hampshire. Formerly, fuller's 

 earth was quarried in Hampshire, but nothing had 

 been done in that industry since the cessation of the 

 Hampshire cloth trade. Some of this earth had lately 

 been quarried in the neighbourhood of Grayshot, and 

 as in the market it fetched the large sum of ^i per 

 ton the}- would readily believe that the}' had not yet 

 exhausted all the physical resources of Hampshire. 

 These clays were all found beneath the Chalk. The 

 clays the}' next came to included the mottled or 

 Reading clays, such as Stamshaw clay ; then they 

 had the London clay, the Lower Bagshot, and the 

 Bracklesham, of which the last was of great import- 

 ance to Southampton, as most of the place was built 

 of it, and they had fine specimens in that building 

 and in the South-Western Hotel. Above their 

 horizon they came to the younger lot of clays, includ- 

 ing the Barton, Headon, Osborne (so named after the 

 Queen's Island residence), Bembridge marls, Ham. 

 stead, drift clays, higher and lower, the lower called 

 the river drift, from which clay Portsmouth was 

 largely built, and, lastly, they had the clays from 

 the top of the hills. Mr. Shore entered at length into 

 the ancient and modern uses of clay, exhibited several 

 old pipes and specimens of pottery and brickmaking, 

 and in connection with the latter traced the early 

 history of brickmaking in the county. His address 

 was listened to with much attention, and frequently 

 applauded. 



WEATHER REPORT FOR THE WEEK. 

 From the meteorological register made at the Ordnance 

 Survey Office, Southampton, under the direction of Col. Sir 

 Chas. Wilson, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., F.R.S., R.E. Lat. 50' 

 54' 59" N. ; long. i 24' o" W. ; height above sea, 84 feet. 

 Observers Sergt. T. Chambers, R.E., and Mr. J. T. Cook. 



