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 



