§ 37. STALACTITES AND CAVERNS. 79 



There are also many caverns in England, celebrated for 

 the variety and beauty of their sparry ornaments ; those of 

 Derbyshire are well known. 



The Grotto of Antiparos in the Grecian Archipelago, 

 not far from Paros, has long been celebrated. The sides 

 and roof of its principal cavity are covered with immense 

 incrustations of calcareous spar, which form either stalac- 

 tites, depending from above, or irregular pillars rising from 

 the floor. Several perfect columns reaching to the ceiling 

 have been formed, and others are still in progress, by the 

 union of the stalactite from above, with the stalagmite 

 below. These being composed of matter slowly deposited, 

 have assumed the most fantastic shapes ; while the pure, 

 white, and glittering spar, beautifully catches and reflects 

 the light of the torches of the visitors to this subterranean 

 palace, in a manner which causes all astonishment to cease 

 at the romantic tales told of the place — of its caves of dia- 

 monds, and of its ruby walls ; the simple truth, when 

 deprived of all exaggeration, being sufficient to excite 

 admiration and awe.* 



The specimens before us will serve to illustrate these 

 remarks: these long stony icicles are from the Isle of 

 Portland; and these minute straws of spar are from an 

 archway near the Chain Pier, and have been formed by the 

 infiltration of rain through the superincumbent bed of 

 calcareous rock. This mass of pebbles, held together by 

 calc-spar, and containing bones and teeth of some rumi- 

 nant, is from the cliffs at Kemp Town, and shows, that in 

 periods very remote, the same process was in action along 

 the Sussex shores. These beautiful slabs of marble are 

 portions of stalagmites, from St. Michael's Cave, Gibraltar ; 



* An admirable model of part of the celebrated Cave of Adelsberg, 

 described by Sir H. Davy, as the habitation of the Proteus, may be 

 seen in the Colosseum in the Regent's Park. 



