THE MAMMOTH CAVE AND ITS INHABITANTS. 741 
corridors, can convey any thing like an adequate idea of the place. 
After spending fifteen hours wi ‘ithin its chambers, it is absolutely 
nauseating to read the descriptions which have been current in the 
letters of newspaper correspondents for a quarter of a century, 
and even the vigorous and picturesque language of Bayard Taylo 
becomes tame and commonplace when it attempts to describe this" 
subterranean wonder of the world 
How and when the cave was made, were the leading questions 
in the minds of the geologists. They do not believe that the cave 
was the immediate result of some violent rete of the strata, 
which left these vast crevices and chambers of w the cave is 
composed ; neither do they share the popular belief ‘that the rapid 
and violent action of some subterranean stream of water has 
worn Aims deep channels through the limestone ; on the contrary, 
steadily and quietly, through vast periods of time, ssibinnadtiahhee 
the marvellous wonders that now astonish the beholder. The cave 
is wrought in the stratum known as the St. Louis opera , which, 
in some places reaches a thickness or depth of four hundred feet. 
This stone is dissolved whenever it is subjected to the Bána of 
running or dripping water impregnated with carbonic acid m. 
Another fact should be stated. When, during this process of so- 
lution, the water becomes thoroughly impregnated with lime, it 
. loses its power to dissolve the stone. The following conditions, 
thén, were essential to the productions of the cave, assuming what 
is not disputed by geologists, that the place where the cave now is, 
was once nearly solid limestone. First, that there should be fis- 
sures in the strata, allowing the ingress of the surface water. 
ondly, there should be a place or places of exit for the water Gikeged 
with limestone in solution. Without the latter, the water would 
become charged with lime, fill up the crevices, and the dissolving 
process would cease. These conditions are all present to-day, and 
have remained the same during the countless ages that have passed 
away while the work has been in progress. There have doubtless 
at work to-day. In the Mammoth Dome, for instance — rarely 
seen by visitors, on account of the dangers and fatigue incident to 
the journey — where the chasm attains a height and depth of more 
