MABBLE : BRICK AND TILE CLAYS, 297 
Marble. 
Some of the denser limestones of the Lower Lias have been 
polished for local use as chimney-pieces, &c. In the Museum of 
Practical Geology there are polished specimens of Lias limestone 
from Radstock and Shepton Mallet. The stone is still occasionally 
polished at Street (see p. 81), and it was formerly so used at 
Binton and Graf ton in Warwickshire. 
Of ornamental stones the Marston Marble, or Ammonite 
Marble of Marston Magna near Yeovil, is familiar in Museums. 
As previously stated (p. 84), some large nodular masses of this 
limestone have been obtained, from which various small polished 
specimens, and slabs for tables have been prepared. The stone is 
now scarce, as no fresh material has been found for many years. 
Small masses of somewhat similar Ammonite Marble have been 
obtained from the neighbourhoods of Ilminster and Lyme Regis. 
The Banbury Marble, which occurs in the upper part of the 
Lower Lias, at Banbury, is a shelly limestone, that has locally 
been used to a small extent for chimney-pieces. At Watford, 
N.E. of Daventry, a bed on a similar horizon, has been dug 
and polished for marble. (See also p. 167.) 
Miscellaneous uses of Fossils. 
Ammonites from the Lower Lias of Lyme Legis are cut and polished for 
sale. Some of the smaller specimens are mounted for brooches and other 
ornaments. Specimens from this locality are also sent to Whitby for sale. 
Among the curious uses to which fossils have been put, it may be mentioned 
that Gryphites have in Scotland been valued as Amulets, and to them have 
been attributed the virtues of curing pains in the joints.* 
In the parish of Awre, in Gloucestershire, the Gryphcea arcuata was used 
as a medicine for cattle; the fossils were beaten to a powder, which was 
mixed with whey, and the compound was then applied as a drench. f In the 
same county Belemnites were used to cure watery affections of the eyes of the 
horse ; in these cases the fossil was pulverized, and the powder was then 
blown into the eyes of the animal. f 
Brick and Tile Clays. 
The Lias Clays at various horizons are employed in the manu- 
facture of bricks, tiles, and drain-pipes ; and also in some places 
for flower-pots, chimney-pots, &c. 
The articles manufactured are mostly red, but occasionally red 
and yellow : the colour depending on the composition of the clay, 
and on the temperature to which the articles have been subjected. 
The clays are variable, and therefore experiment alone can 
determine their fitness in different districts for brick- or tile- 
making. The presence of much carbonaceous matter is calculated 
to discolour the bricks. A small amount of calcareous matter is 
* Pennant, Tour to Hebrides, p. 232. 
t Rev. C. P. Wilton, Quart. Journ. Sci. Lit. and Arts, ser. 2, 1830, p. 69. 
j J. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, England, 1729, Part I., p. 109. 
