BAKIUM, STRONTIUM, AND CALCIUM. 



229 



in dripping, losing in part its carbonic acid, and therefore 

 its solvent power, deposits some of its carbonate, which ac- 

 cumulates gradually in the stalactite form. But as the 

 solvent power of the water is not all lost, some of the car- 

 bonic acid still remaining, the water, as it falls upon the 

 floor of the cavern, loses another portion of the acid, and 

 so deposits more of the lime in eminences called stalag- 

 mites. These are of course less slender and pointed than 

 the stalactites. You see the same difference in form be- 

 tween icicles and the accumulations below them. There 

 are splendid displays of these formations in many of the 

 caves of the earth. Some of the most celebrated are, 

 Weyer's Cave, in Virginia ; the Cave of Thor, in Derby- 

 shire, England ; and the Grotto of Antiparos, on an island 

 of the same name in the Grecian Archipelago. A part 

 of this grotto is represented in Fig. 93. You can get an 



Fig. 93. The Grotto of Antipnros. 



