THE MUSEUM. 



59 



this winter (Dec. 31, 1897) but with 

 failure as before. Under date Jnn. 3, 

 189^, he writes me of the matter as 

 follows: "I did not write you before 

 because I had determined to visit the 

 cave first, — to see if it could be ex- 

 plored to the end, and open the hole 

 in the rock. * * * j ^jjj j^q^ g^ 



until Friday, the 31st. A friend ac- 

 companied me. We went full\- pre- 

 pared; had five dynamite cartridges, 

 100 feet of fuse, small oil-stove (to 

 warm dynamited etc. Reached the 

 cave at 11a. m., and left it at 3:30 p. 

 m. Don't think any one had been 

 there since we visited it a year ago. 

 We found the cave very muddy and 

 our outer clothing was completely 

 soaked with water and mud. In one 

 of the rooms was a pool of water about 

 10 feet in length and about two feet 

 deep. We managed to get across and 

 reached the room where Hartley sent 

 up the rockets, but could not go any 

 farther. The tunnel that leads to the 

 Rotunda was filled with water. W'e 

 looked in vain for the rock-hole, so we 

 lugged dynamite and stove through 

 the cave for nothing. We found 

 numerous colonies of bats clinging to 

 the walls in clusters, and water drip- 

 ping from the roof. I send you three 

 specimens that are peculiar, have nev- 

 er found any like them before. The 

 small stalactite shaped like a trumpet 

 came from the level horizontal roof. 

 The other two specimens I found to- 

 gether in a small pool of water. 

 Query I How were these bars and 

 pellets formed, and why not all of one 

 shape.' I found numerous specimens 

 6f each kind. When we reached 

 Mother Earth it was snowing fast and 

 we had to face the storm all the way 

 home, nearly S miles. Don't think I 

 will explore any more caves in winter. " 

 The winter season has been recom- 

 mended as the best time of the year 

 for cavern exploration and this may 

 be true in a general way. However, 

 Mitchell's cave is an exceptional case, 

 the vertical cleft readily admitting the 

 surface waters which trickling through 



the enclosed detritus keep the walls of 

 the cleft constantly wet, clammy and 

 unpleasant to pass. With the true 

 caves of a limestone region it is differ- 

 ent. The roof of such generally being 

 tjuite solid rock any entering waters 

 are compelled to follow the same con- 

 duits at all seasons. 



The specimens from Mitchell's, 

 spoken of in the foregoing letter of Mr. 

 \'an Home's, are very interesting ex- 

 amples from the many forms of growth 

 made by calcareous deposits in 

 the underworld. The "pellets" are 

 known as "cave-pearls" and have 

 been slowly formed by calcareous 

 growth around a grain of sand or 

 other minute object as a nucleus. 

 Ouoting ICrnest Ingersoll, ("The Cav- 

 erns of Luray "j, — "They lie, three or 

 four together, in little hollows in the 

 floor, exactly like so many eggs in a 

 sparrow's nest. Every falling drop 

 moves the grain and prevents its be- 

 coming attached or growing into any 

 except a globular form; thus under 

 proper circumstances, marbles or 

 'pearls' are formed." 



The cylinder or "bar," spoken of 

 by Mr. Van Home, of which a sketch 

 is given, had its origin much the same 

 way as the cave-pearls. These cylin- 

 drical forms of calcite have for their 

 nucleus some small object such as a 

 tiny twig, a splinter of wood, a pine 

 needle or even a hair, any of which 

 could easily be conveyed into a cavern 

 by water. The length of the nucleus 

 of course determining that of the cy- 

 linder. The example figured was 

 (fortunately) broken in the mails; 

 probably with a blow from the dating 

 stamp. This break has opportunely 

 shown in a curious way the internal 

 structure of the specimen. 



By gently pulling the ends the cy- 

 linder can be separated slightly as 

 shown in the cut whicii is a little more 

 than natural size. The shorter por- 

 tion sliding freely for a trifling distance 

 on the enclosed nucleus which is there- 

 by plainly shown. However, the end 

 cannot be removed farther without 



