THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 123 
to be something more than the accidental com- 
binations of a blind chance in what I saw,— 
some evidence of an informing and directing 
will. In these secret caverns, the agencies which 
produced their wonders have been at work for 
thousands of years, perhaps thousands of ages, 
fashioning the sparry splendors in the womb of 
darkness with as exquisite a grace, as true an 
instinct of beauty, as in the palm or the lily, 
which are moulded by the hands of the sun. 
What power is it that lies behind the mere 
chemistry of Nature, impregnating her atoms 
with such subtle laws of symmetry? What but 
the Divine will which first gave her being, and 
which is never weary of multiplying for man 
the lessons of infinite wisdom ?” 
Professor Locke, of the Ohio Medical College, 
under date of Cincinnati, October 26, 1841, 
published in Silliman’s “ American Journal 
of Science and Arts’ for 1842, p. 206, a 
sketch entitled “ Alabaster in the Mammoth 
Cave of Kentucky,” from which we make the 
following extracts : 
‘“‘ After crossing within the Cave several 
streams in boats, an apartment has _ been 
reached (Cleveland’s Cabinet), the roof of 
which is decorated with the most gorgeous 
