142 



nents, that several geologists of the school of 

 Freiberg have given it the name of cavern 

 limestone, hcehlenkalkstein* It is this rock 

 which so often interrupts the course of rivers*, 

 by ingulfing them into its bosom. It is this 

 also, which includes the famous Cueva del Gua- 

 charo, and the other grottoes of the valley of 

 Caripe. The muriatiferous gypsum-f% whether 

 it be found in layers in the Jura or Alpine lime- 

 stone, or whether it separate these two forma™" 

 tions, or lie between the Alpine limestone, and 

 argillaceous sandstone, presents also, on ac- 

 count of its great solubility, enormous cavities, 

 which sometimes communicate with each other 

 at several leagues distance. When these sub- 

 terraneous basins J are filled with water, their 

 proximity becomes dangerous to the miners, 

 whose works they expose to unforeseen inunda- 

 tions. If the caverns, on the contrary, be dry, 

 and very spacious, they are useful in freeing 

 a mine from water. Distributed in stages, 

 they may receive the waters into their upper 

 part, and assist the efforts of industry by serv- 

 ing as subterraneous drains dug out by nature. 

 After the limestone and gypseous formations, 



* This geological phenomenon had very much attracted 

 the notice of the ancients. Strabo, Geogr., lib. 6 (ed. Oxon. 

 1807, T. l,p.397). 



+ Gypsum of Bottendorf, schlottengyps. 



+ Kalkschlotten, in Thuringia, 



