NATURAL HISTORY of NORWAY. 55 



I impute to the long confinement of the air. In my little col- 

 lection of northern and other natural curiofities I have feveral 

 fuch petrified pieces, which exhibit folidum in folido, and other 

 indications of a hidden induration of thefe formerly fluid fur> 

 ftances, by which fillies, worms, fnakes, and other creatures have 

 been inclofed in {tones, as we meet with infects and the like in 

 amber *. 



Inflead of dwelling on thefe things I (hall corroborate the matter 

 by a conjecture of my own, relating to three cavities in a rock in 

 the diftrict of Rake, three quarters of a Norway mile from Fre- 

 dericfhall. Thefe cavities at their entrance are round, and each not 

 above two ells in circumference. Two of them are not very deep, 

 and fo are not particularly remarkable, as they might have been 

 formed by human hands with inftruments ; but the third cavity, on 

 that account, deferves the more admiration from the curious; for 

 tho' not wider than the other two, and fo fmooth and regular, that 

 it might be miftaken for a work of art, yet it would be abfurd 

 to fuppofe this, on account of its unfathomable depth; for when 

 in order to form a computation of it, a fmall ftone is dropped 

 down, the echo does not in lefs than two minutes give any 

 room to conclude that the ftone has reached the bottom; and 

 the found it returns is quite melodious and pleafant, not unlike 

 that of a bell. This profound cavity, which is too narrow to re- 

 ceive a human body, much lefs to allow room for the motion of 

 the hands, could not therefore poftibly have been dug or bored 

 by human art, confequently it mult be of equal date with the 

 world itfelf, or, which indeed is moft probable, it was formed by the 

 deluge, and poftibly in this manner ; the fubftance of the rocks 

 being fuppofed foft and impreftible like a pafte, a round ftone, 

 previoufly indurated, might fall on it from fome eminence, and 

 by its own weight force a paffage quite through. And if the 

 two other cavities, which are not very deep, proceeded from a 

 fimilar caufe, the ftones which fell in there muft have been 

 lighter, or have met with a more infpiftated or harder matter. 



* I am not little pleafed that Mr. Buffon has found the like, and other adventiti- 

 ©us bodies in marble and chalk. Natural Hift. Tom. I. Art. vnj. 



Part I. q^ SECT. 



