September 1, 1922] 



SCIENCE 



241 



seen America who has not visited one or more 

 of the caverns in the Shenandoah Valley. 

 Until recently the only caverns that were ac- 

 cessible to the public were the celebrated Luray 

 Caverns, in Page County, and Weyer's Caves, 

 in northern Augusta County, near Grottoes. 

 However, within twelve months, the Endless 

 Caverns, near New Market, in Shenandoah 

 County, have been opened, and on May 31 an- 

 other cavern near Mount Jackson, also in 

 Shenandoah County, made its first bid for 

 public favor. 



The latest-opened caves have been named 

 Shenandoah Caverns. They are about three 

 miles south of Mount Jackson and two miles 

 west of the Valley Pike, with which they are 

 connected by a macadamized road. The visitor 

 descends into these caverns by a concrete stair- 

 way and soon sees the first stalactites, which 

 appear as stout daggers of crystallized lime 

 carbonate, hanging like icicles from points 

 where surface water drips from the limestone 

 roof. At the foot of the stairs is the spacious 

 anteroom to a long chain of high-vaulted cham- 

 bers connected by narrow passageways, form- 

 ing in general plan a gigantic letter S, all 

 illuminated by cleverly concealed lights. At- 

 tractive natural decorations are found in every 

 Toom. Here the side walls are covered by 

 fluted veneer done in crystal stucco, there in 

 graceful drapery hang creamy lambrequins in 

 ruddy-tinted stripes. From place to place, 

 singly or in gi'oups, are pendent stalactites 

 and uprising stalagmites — the first inverted 

 narrow cones fed by trickling films of lime- 

 bearing water; the second pillars or columns 

 fed by spattering drops of the water. In one 

 room midway down the chain the show piece 

 is a narrow 30-foot cascade of white glittering 

 crystal flanked by twin falls of pale trans- 

 lucent ocher. At the base and to the rear of 

 this diamond cascade, visible by peering be- 

 tween slender columns of oriental alabaster, is 

 the "Fairy's Secret," a tiny pool illuminated 

 in due season by animated torches, presum- 

 ably carried by a brood of phosphorescent 

 larvce of some insect, perhaps a small fly that 

 is commonly present in such caverns. At the 

 end of the developed portion of the cavern a 

 chamber of high vaulted roof suddenly gives 



place to a low-ceiled room containing a lakelet 

 in which are mirrored a multitude of delicate 

 stalactites — a pool of a thousand crystal 

 pendants. 



According to A. C. Spencer, of the United 

 States Geological Survey, the caverns of the 

 Shenandoah Valley are far more numerous 

 than the casual visitor would be likely to 

 imagine. The rocks in which the broad trench- 

 like valley has been excavated by water are 

 mainly limestone, and wherever these rocks 

 occur the existence of caverns is indicated by 

 two unfailing signs — the presence of innum- 

 erable water sinks and the absence of brooks 

 tributary to the rather regularly spaced creeks. 

 The brookless tracts receive a due share of 

 rainfall and must obviously contribute water 

 to maintain the flow of the creeks and rivers, 

 but their contributions are not delivered by 

 way of the surface drains, but through under- 

 ground channels that supply copious springs 

 in the deep valleys. The sinks are rude fun- 

 nels, by means of which surface waters are 

 diverted to the subten'anean waterways. 



The development of extensive underground 

 waterways in limestone formations like those 

 of the Shenandoah Valley hinges upon the two 

 geologic facts that large masses of lock are 

 always cut by joints and that limestone is dis- 

 solved by rainwater, which always contains 

 more or less carbon dioxide. Surface water 

 entering flssures, joint cracks and bedding 

 planes attacks the limestone walls and thus by 

 a process of etching converts close fractures 

 and joints into relatively open crevices. As 

 this process of solution goes on lateral connec- 

 tions will be made from crevice to crevice, 

 and the downward etching of the linked open- 

 ings will be halted only when the subsurface 

 water channels have become closely adjusted to 

 the water table controlled by surface streams. 

 Thus it is that the caverns of the Shenandoah 

 Valley are formed. 



THE SALT LAKE CITY MEETING 

 The sixth annual meeting of the Pacific 

 Division, American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, held at Salt Lake City, 

 June 22 to 24, 1922, in conjunction with a 

 summer session of the national association, was 



