Royal Society of Edinburgh. t\ 



2. " Notes of a Tour on the Hartz Mountains, Part III./' by 

 Dr. Lindsay. 



3. "On the Physiological and Therapeutical actions oi Cannabis 

 indica,** by Dr. James B. Balfour, Kilsyth. 



4. " Notice of Plants found in the neighbourhood of Dollar in the 

 autumn of 1853," by Dr. Balfour. 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



Tuesday, December 6, 1853. — Sir Thomas Brisbane, President, in 



the Chair. 



Notice of the Blind Animals which inhabit the Mammoth Cave of 

 Kentucky. By James Wilson, Esq. 



The cave in question was described as of great extent, and remark- 

 able in several respects. Although described as a " cave," it consists 

 of innumerable extensive underground galleries, the sides and tops of 

 which consist of limestone. The temperature of the cave is uniformly 

 59° Fahrenheit throughout the whole year, and a remarkable phseno- 

 menon is shown by the variation of temperature outside. When the 

 temperature outside is higher than that of the cave, then an outward 

 current of air is observed, its violence being proportionate to the dif- 

 ference of temperature. On the other hand, when the outer air falls 

 below 59°, then a reverse current sets in. In some cases these cur- 

 rents are so strong as to extinguish the lamps carried by explorers. 

 No change of temperature has, however, been on any occasion ob- 

 served in the cave, a proof of its vast extent. It is completely dark, 

 but inhabited by some animals. These inhabitants are, in most cases 

 that have been observed, completely blind, some indeed having the 

 rudiments of eyes, and others the eyes to appearance pretty well 

 developed, but useless for the purposes of vision. Specimens of the 

 animals were handed round, and the author of the paper detailed their 

 characteristics and habits, as well as of all other remarkable animals 

 in other parts of the world that are known to be without the power 

 of vision. As blind inhabitants of the Kentucky cave, he noticed 

 two bats, two fishes, several beetles, two rats, — one found at a 

 distance of seven miles from daylight, some spiders, moles, Crustacea, 

 and other animals, including the minute infusoria, which last not 

 being furnished with eyes in those species that live in light, were not 

 to be expected to possess them in those that live in darkness. He 

 alluded to the blind mole of the Cape, and also to the bhnd mole of 

 Greece, which is the common mole there, and the mole of Aristotle. 

 Aristotle was therefore correct in describing the mole as blind, and 

 his correctors and commentators wrong who found eyes in the British 

 mole, which is a different animal, possessed of the faculty of vision. 

 He also noticed a bhnd reptile. The inquiry as to the origin of those 

 remarkable beings that inhabit the Kentucky cave is full of interest. 

 Whether their origin is coseval with the cave itself we cannot tell ; it 

 may be that they were created for the remarkable conditions which 



