This excellent book looks at a largely unknown industry to the south of Bath, which was started by the Romans, and continued until 1980, namely the mining of ‘Fuller’s Earth’, the active constituent of which is calcium montmorillonite, giving it powerful absorbent properties. This gives it 100s of uses, from cosmetics to the oil industry, and cat-litter to margarine, to name four. Neil Macmillen covers the development of the mines, and the refining methods used to produce different earths for use in different applications, and also gives a masterly lesson in exactly what Fuller’s Earth is. 152 very well produced pages, full of B&W photos, drawings, diagrams and maps. Paperback. Lightmoor Press