STRONTIAN'S GEOLOGY AND DISCOVERING HEDDLE

We headed off to Ardnamurchan for a couple of days in the lovely Indian Summer we have been enjoying.

 Coran Ferry crossing over to Argour

 Salen Harbour.  Very impressed with the village. The jetty has been restored (Telford built originaly).  The village store has wifi along with teas, supplies and helpful folk to fill in the story of their village plans for improvement.

Wonderful B & B at Heatherbank 2 miles up the road from the Strontian Hotel which is on the shore road. This is the view from their front window.

Rowan berries in Heatherbank driveway looking over to mountains.  Iain wants to return so he can bag another hill.

Up the road from our B & B was the old lead mine. The element Strontium takes its name from the material found here (village of Strontian).  Iain insists it is pronounced 'Stron TI an'.

Not only did we find a lead mine but we also discovered as 'goldmine', so to speak, when our B&B hosts showed us the above book published a month ago and presented to them by the author on his recent visit.

Details are below.  We were thrilled to read about this man and all the places he 'geologized' particularly on the west coast as it is the area we know so well. 

[From the Amazon blurb] Professor Matthew Heddle (1828-97) was a larger-than-life character, a renowned academic and one of Scotland's most famous mineralogists. His rich legacy includes: Encyclopaedia Britannica 9th edition (section on Mineralogy) A fossil fish Heddleichthys A mineral named after him (Mattheddleite) A summary of the Mineralogy of Scotland (published posthumously) 55 scientific papers 5,700 specimens from his collection now housed in the National Museum of Scotland and the National Museums Collection Centre. 10 children. This book, by Heddle's great-great-grandson, [Hamish H Johnston] is not an account of his scientific work but is about Heddle the man; it provides a much fuller picture of him than anything that has appeared before.

Reference:

Matthew Forster Heddle: Mineralogist and Mountaineer by Hamish H. Johnston. National Museum of Scotland Enterprises Publishing, www.nms.ac.uk/books. 272 pages; 2015; £14.99 (softbound)


Later: 

This photo is for the children.  It is a sample of galena (compound) with lead (element} in it. When I asked Ishie is she could guess the connection to the pencil, she got it right away.  Sheesh ... and she is just coming up for 10 years old.