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CHAPTER 2. 
Stalaciites. 
THE Stalactites, however, are much more numerous 
and interesting, and are worthy of attention from their 
multiplied, and often fanciful, groups and figures. 
We find them in great abundance, in most of our 
quarries, ornamenting the roofs and sides of the 
caves and hollows; where they are produced by the 
water, which makes its way into those hollows, 
and which, becoming impregnated with calcareous 
matter, in its passage from the surface, gradually 
evaporates, and deposits it in those forms. They 
sometimes possess a tolerable degree of transparency, 
and are of various sizes, increasing from that of a 
