124 THE MAMMOTH CAVE. 



ornaments of alabaster, so much like a work of 

 art as to surpass credibility. They are white 

 and semi-transparent, and are thrown out from 

 the rock in the form of rosettes, leaves, and 

 curled enrichments of the composite capital of 

 architecture, * * * * I was at first at 

 a loss to account for such beautiful formations, 

 and especially for the elegance of the curves ex- 

 hibited. It is, however, evident that the sub- 

 stances have grown from the rocks by increments 

 or additions to the base, — the solid parts already 

 formed being continually pushed forward. If 

 the growth be a little more rapid on one side 

 than on the other, a well-proportioned curve 

 will be the result; should the action on one 

 side diminish or increase, then all the beauties 

 of the conic and mixed curves would be pro- 

 duced. The masses are often evenly and 

 longitudinally striated by a kind of columnar 

 structure, exhibiting a fascicle of small prisms, 

 and some of these prisms, ending sooner than 

 others, give a broken termination of great 

 beauty, similar to our form of the emblem of 

 Hhe order of the Star.' The rosettes formed 

 by a mammillary disk, surrounded by a circle of 

 leaves at every flexure, like the branches of a 

 chandelier, running more than a foot in length 



