NOTES AND QUEKtES. 
445 
diflusion of caloric according to the square of the distance to hold good, the 
following expressions for the temperature of the two depths : — 
R= - 2'Rx 
IV - 2 lU, + x''. 
Deducting one from the other we obtain 
k'' - - 2 a; R + 2 Rt, J 
and remembering that x and x, are very small as compared to R (in the deepest 
mines about 1 to 12,000), and may, therefore, be safely ^neglected, we oTitain for the 
dilference of temperature the expressions 
2 R (X, - x), 
which varies dli-ectly as the depth, agreeing with the best observations. — I am 
Sir, yours, &c., A. H. Patteeson, Everton, Liverpool." 
" Fairy " Cave in Swaledale. — " An observation in your journal last mouth 
on the Caverns of Cumberland reminds me of a visit I made twenty years ago 
when on a mining expedition in the north of Yorkshire, where, after indulging 
in grouse shooting on the moor near Lowrow, in Swaledale, I was informed by 
some of my country friends that some miles beyond was a celebrated ' fairy cave.' 
I no sooner heard of it than I resolved to visit it, in spite of the report that no 
one ever returned from there that went in. This only made me the more 
determined to venture. Accordingly, I provided myself with a lantern, matches, 
and candles, a gun — revolvers were not made then — and the largest ball of cord I 
could purchase. On my road thither, accompanied by some ' country cousins,' 
I was met by several residents, who, on hearing my resolve, bade me a tearful 
farewell, after having increased my curiosity by their endeavours to frighten or 
dissuade me from entering. After winding along a sheep track on the side of a 
steep mountain for some distance, at the foot of which ran a mountain stream, I 
came upon a horizontal fissure in the limestone-rock about fourteen or eighteen 
inches high in the centre and several feet wide, or rather long. To enter was by 
no means easy ; but, resolved, I fastened one end of my cord to a rock outside, lit 
the candle in the lantern, which I pushed before me, and crept in, d la lizard, 
dragging my gun, &c., with me. About twenty feet in the opening became wider, 
and after lighting another candle in case of accident, for no one would accompany 
me, I bid my friends wait outside till I returned, and climbed on through vast 
caverns glistening with pendent stalactites that reflected my lights a thousand 
times. Now 1 was going down carefully over loose clumps of rock, while the 
noise of waters rushing between them at my feet produced a slight feeling of awe. 
Curiosity led me first to one side then another ; here I climbed to get through a 
small opening ; there the roof of a large cavern some hundred feet long seemed 
studded with gems. I went down, clambered, turned to this side, and then the 
other, filling my "haversack " with what appeared fairy gems, and replenishing 
candle after candle from my lantern as the draft burnt them out. Every foot I 
proceeded found me some fine specimen which seduced me further on, sometimes 
even working my way on my belly through crevices not two feet wide, till at last 
I came to the end of my cord ! And fortunate was I to have taken the precaution 
of that assistance — for, on turning round, I found nothing but that to guide my 
return, and as I kept hauling in to trace my way, wondered how I could have gone 
through places which, my excitement over, 1 dreaded to return. At last, by 
following my friendly cord, climbing and falling, in which I often extinguished 
my light, I reached the entrance which, but for the cord, I should never have 
found, or, if found, have recognized. I called to my friends outside, but no 
answer ; I looked for light, but saw none. I became more than anxious ; fired 
my gun, but no answer except from the lonely cavern. So ' lizarding ' it again, 
I got out safe, and found my friends gone ; I had been inside Jive hours mid a 
half — they had shouted, pulled my cord till they feared to break it, fired guns, 
but at last, presuming the fairies had taken me, wended their way home, every one 
they met on the road sapiently remarking, 'We told you how it would be.' I 
