HAKDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



195 



Bnissim came, as it was svipposed, from praseco, 

 because it was cut off from the stalk. 



The cauliflower was first called " colellorie," and 

 is said to be derived from cauUs, a stalk, and fero, to 

 bear. Cabbage is stated to be derived from an old 

 Erench word, cab, a head,— that is, formed by the 

 leaves turning close over each olhcr. Thus we say 

 " the lettuce has cabbage," &c. 



Erom this arose the cant word applied to lailors, 

 who formerly worked at the private houses of 

 their customers, where they often were accused 

 of cabbaging, which means the rolling up pieces 

 of cloth instead of list and shreds, which they 

 claim as their due. The cabbage is a favourite 

 vegetable among the labouring and lower classes 

 in this country. It is calculated that more than 

 eighty-nine millions of plants are sold annually in 

 the metropolis, and over fourteen million heads of 

 brocoli and cauliflowers. (See London Labour and 

 London Poor.) H. G. Glasspoole. 



HOLIDAY RAMBLES. 



NO. I. — A VISIT TO CASTLETON. 



WHAT reader of " Peverel of the Peak " has 

 not wished to visit the castle rendered 

 famous by the pen of the great novelist, and to see 

 for himself the home of honest Will Peverel ? But 

 great as the attraction of these ruins undoubtedly 

 is to the antiquary, equally great are the attractions 

 of Castleton and its neighbourhood to the geologist ; 

 for here are those wonderful caverns that have long 

 been a cause of admiration ; and here also, the 

 strata of the lower carboniferous rocks may be 

 studied with the greatest advantage. 



In approachiug Castleton from Chapel-en-le- 

 Erith, the pedestrian notices, on reaching the brow 

 of the hill from which the Vale of Castleton is first 

 seen, Mam Tor, or the " Shivering Mountain." The 

 former name was given it by our Saxon forefathers, 

 which signifies "The Mother Hill." The latter 

 designation has been bestowed upon it because, on 

 its western side, large masses of its rocks have 

 fallen down, and small fragments are continually 

 sliding down ; thus giving it the appearance of con- 

 tinual motion. 



At this hill the Yoredale* limestones and shales 

 may be well examined, as they have been thoroughly 

 exposed by the landslips that have taken place. 

 These beds will be found to consist of siliceous 

 sandstone and shale, the latter being impregnated 

 with oxide of iron. In some of the nodules of im- 

 pure ironstone I found, on breaking them, cavities 

 containing dried bitumen ; whilst in the shale I 

 discovered a few fossils, several specimens of a 

 species of Modiola and Goniatites reticulatton . 



* So called from the valley of the Ure, or Tore, in York- 

 shire, where the typical beds occar. 



On the opposite side of the road is Blue John 

 Mine, the grand depository of the amethistinc, or 

 topazine fluor spar of mineralogists, which is called 

 by the miners " Blue John," to distinguish it from 

 " Black Jack," or zinc ore. This substance is com- 

 posed of lime and fluoric acid, the most penetrating 

 and corrosive of any acid known ; the blue colouring 

 matter being oxide of manganese. 



Descending by a flight of steps, a narrow con- 

 fined passage is reached that winds between 

 stupendous rocks. Erom the roof of this passage 

 stalactites are pendent, whilst the sides are coated 

 with crystals of carbonate of lime, and in them 

 various fossils are seen imbedded. After descend- 

 ing for some time, the Variegated Cavern is 

 reached, a large chamber said to be upwards of JOO 

 feet in height. But this is not the only large 

 chamber that has been made known through the 

 labours of the miners. Some distance from this 

 cavern is the one called " Lord Mulgrave's Dining- 

 room," a huge cavity about 150 feet in height and 

 60 feet in diameter. But the most beautiful of all 

 the chambers is that called the " Crystallized 

 Cavern," a large dome- shaped cavity, the height of 

 which is estimated at 100 feet, and whose sides are 

 adorned with numerous stalactites, that sparkle like 

 stars when it is lighted up. 



Another of the Peak mines is the Speedwell 

 Mine, which was originally excavated by a company 

 of proprietors in search of lead ore. Access to the 

 interior of this mine is obtained by descending up- 

 wards of a hundred steps, and then by navigating a 

 canal six or seven feet in breadth, the terminus of 

 which is the Grand Cavern, a vast opening fashioned 

 by nature in the heart of the mountain, the height 

 and depth of which have never been ascertained. 

 Here is a huge abyss into which 40,000 tons of rub- 

 bish, produced in driving the level or canal 600 or 

 700 yards beyond the cavern, have been thrown 

 without making any difference. 



The height of the huge dome has never been 

 determined, but the distance to the surface of the 

 mountain has been computed at 840 feet, and nearly 

 the whole of the intervening space is believed to be 

 a vast cavity. But some idea of the altitude of this 

 cavern may be formed from the fact that rockets 

 have been sent up within it having sufficient power 

 to ascend 450 feet, which have exploded and thrown 

 out their coruscations as freely as if they ascended 

 beneath the vault of heaven.* 



But the grandest of all the Castleton caverns is 

 the " Peak Cavern," the approach to which is by a 

 narrow ravine, at the end of which is a magnificent 

 archway in the solid rock, 120 feet wide and about 

 42 feet high. The mode of progress in this cavern 

 was formerly by a boat for a short distance, but 



* See J. E. Taylor's " Geological Essays, and Sketch of 

 the Geology of Manchester and the Neighbourhood," p. 95. 



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