Dr Davy's Account of Cole*s Cave, Barbadoes. 355 



and cannot be bent without breaking ; while its original pliability 

 may be restored by annealing at a dull red heat. The same fact has, 

 I believe, been observed for pieces of copper immersed in battery 

 cells for electrotype purposes. That these changes are connected 

 with the water surrounding the metals is at once shewn by the fact, 

 that portions of the metals kept dry, but engaged conducting an elec- 

 trical current like the wet parts, remain unaltered. They are evi- 

 dently of a quite different character from the slow change in thermo- 

 electric joints at high temperatures, where the heated metal surfaces 

 are always in a very dry state. To detect a similar action in joints 

 at lower temperatures I have experiments of now near three years' 

 duration ; but from all I can observe, this space of time falls far 

 short of what will be required. 



Account of a remarkable Cave in the Island of Barbadoes, 

 commonly called " Cole's Cave'' By JoilN Davy, M.D., 

 F.R.S. Lond. and Edin., Inspector-General of Army Hos- 

 pitals, &c. Communicated by the Author. 



It is not my intention, in the present communication, to 

 enter into any minute account of this well-known cave ; — it 

 is my wish, chiefly, to point out some of its peculiarities, and, 

 most of all, certain appearances which seem to me interest- 

 ing in relation to geology. 



I may premise, that Cole's Cave is nearly in the central 

 part of the island, on an estate called " the Spring," — a name 

 derived, it is said, from a spring in the cave, the source of a 

 subterraneous rivulet. It is distant about six miles from the 

 principal town. Bridge- town ; and may be about five or six 

 hundred feet above the level of the sea, and about thirty feet 

 deep, measuring from the surface above. The descent to it 

 is steep, but not difficult. The entrance is narrow, and, con- 

 sequently, the descending rays of light are soon lost, and the 

 interior of the cave is dark within a few feet of its mouth. 

 The cavern may be briefly described as a subterraneous chasm 

 or rent, of variable dimensions, and varying in the most irre- 

 gular manner, with branches from it. That of greatest ex- 

 tent has never been followed to its termination ; and it is yet 

 a problem whether its termination is in the direction of the 

 low coast to the southward, or the contrarv, inland towards 



