163 



XXXVII. 



DOLOMITES. 

 Br 



THE REV. T- S.\NGER DAVIES, M.A. 



The Lecturer said : The Dolomite mountains in South Tyrol 

 excelled all other mountains he had seen, (1) in the striking 

 boldness of their form ; (2) in the distinct individuality which, 

 each mountain seemed to have of its own ; so much so that 

 whenever one saw a print or photograph or view of any Dolomite, 

 one could at once recognize the original. If anyone arrived in the 

 Dolomite region towards mid-day he would only notice the 

 fantastic forms of these rocks. But at sunrise and .sunset they 

 were full of colour. Whether the sunset was red, yellow, or pale, 

 if the sun's rays while slanting could only reach the Dolomite 

 mountains they became of the rosy pink colour shown in the 

 water-colour drawings, the rosy colour which they also saw 

 painted by a native artist on the two pear-shaped gourds [exhibited 

 in the room]. From those they would see the exceeding beauty 

 of that pink fiery glow which seemed to go through the heart of 

 these tremendous peaks, for although rocks in one sense they were 

 mountains in another — all of them rose to a height of nearly 

 11,000 feet. All this beauty was within a day's journey by train 

 if there were a direct line to it from Kent^within 24 hours' 

 steaming by one of our ocean steamers if the way were clear. 



In considering the cause of their beauty one had to consider 

 also what was the character of these rocks chemically. The 

 analysis seemed to be something like this : Carbonate of lime, 

 54-3 out of 100; carbonate of magnesia, 45-7 — there might also 

 be a trifle of iron, but roughly speaking it had these two 

 components : a little more than half was carbonate of lime ; that 

 is what we call limestone, or, if very soft and white, chalk, and if 

 very hard and white, marble. 



The structure of the rock was either cellular or schistose, or 

 it might be slatey, or even earthy, and it was seldom seen in the 

 mass unstratified. 



Why was it called " Dolomite" ? That was rather an unusual 

 story. It used to be called by various German names — by 

 Emmerling it was called " Bitter Spar," " Rhombic Spar," by 

 Werner, and by others " Muricalcite," " Maguesian Spar," and 

 " Magnesian carbonate of lime." Of course this last name was 

 merely a description of its nature, but about 100 years ago, as 

 nearly as possible, a certain Frencbman named Deodatus Guy 



