0^ A PIECE OF TI5IBEE ENCEUSTED WITH LIME. 91 



of rapid encrustation was given in the same scientific periodical 

 in its issue of a fortnight later, where it is recorded that in Poole's 

 Hole,* near Buxton in Derbyshire, one-eighth of an inch of sta- 

 lagmite was deposited on the gas-pipes which were used in light- 

 ing the caves, six months only after they were placed in position. 



It is well known that a strong argument for the antiquity of 

 man has been founded on the phenomena discoverable in Ossi- 

 ferous Caves as at Kent's Cavern, Brixham, and elsewhere. Mr. 

 Alfred Wallace and other high authorities have referred to the 

 rate of deposition of the stalagmitic flooring of such caves, which 

 cover the remains of extinct animals and man, as a tolerably safe 

 criterion of the extreme antiquity of man on the earth. 



This distinguished naturalist, Mr. A. E. Wallace, remarks, f 

 '' We have here indications of an immense antiquity from various 

 sources. The upper stalagmitic floor itself marks a vast lapse of 

 time, since it divides the relics of the last two or three thousand 

 years from a deposit full of the bones of extinct mammalia, many 

 of which, like the Reindeer, Mammoth, and Glutton, indicate an 

 arctic climate. It has been remarked that the varying thick- 

 nesses of the stalagmitic floor, fi'om sixteen inches to five feet 

 and upwards, closely correspond to the present amount of drip 

 in various parts of the cave, so that the cave itself, with its va- 

 rious fissures and crevices, does not appear to have been materially 

 altered since the stalagmite was deposited. It is true that the 

 drip may once have been greater, but it may also have been less, 

 and we do not know that a more copious drip would necessarily 

 produce a more rapid deposit of stalagmite. But names cut into 

 this stalagmite more than two centuries ago are still legible,! 

 showing that, in a spot where the drip is now vciy copious, and 

 where the stalagmite is twelve feet thick, not more than about 



* "Poole's Cavern" i3 described in Prof. Boyd-Dawkin's " Cavc-Huntina," Chap. II., 

 p. 34, und III., p. 126 (1874). 



f '■'■Nature,'" October 2nd, 1873, p. 463, speaking of Kent's Cavern, near Torquay, in liis 

 review of the fourth Edition of Sir Charles Lyell's " Antiquity of Man." 



X The following are amongst tlic names and dates: Robert Hedges, of Ireland,, Feb. 

 20th, 1G88. Peter Lcmanc. Richard Colby, of London, 1615, See "The Geological Evi- 

 dences of the Antiquity of Man Reconsidered," by Thomas Karr Callard, F.G.S., p. 14. 

 (Note). 



