POULTON : DOWKERBOTTOM CAVE. 
367 
have slipped downward from the roof, and only rest against 
the two vertical sides of a passage. It is well known that the 
power of dissolving and therefore depositing carbonate of lime, 
possessed by water, depends upon the carbon dioxide which it has 
taken into solution. This is derived almost entirely from the soil. 
The soil in yielding this gas again depends upon the growth and 
death of plants and animals. For a long time after the Glacial 
period, the Yorkshire hills must have remained bare of their 
vegetation, and they would also have almost certainly lost the 
vegetal soil they may have possessed before. Thus would be 
produced conditions most unfavourable to chemical deposits, and 
most favourable to those of mechanical origin, — in the absence of 
cement between the joints of the roof, and in the very heavy 
rainfall which is believed to have followed the Glacial epoch and 
to have formed a Pluvial period. 
We also made some attempts on the western side. The first 
passage was blasted and made readily passable, and we set to work 
on the small second chamber which had not been touched before. 
Here in the upper part were deposits from running water, — sand 
clay, and stalagmite. There was a distinct stratification due to 
the running water. Among these deposits were many bones and 
teeth which await identification. As far as I examined the 
remains, they were of wild animals, and one piece of pottery alone 
indicated the presence of man ; it was probably brought to this 
position by water, and many of the bones may have been also 
washed in. Beneath these upper layers were large blocks from 
the roof imbedded in stalagmite ; some of these projected through 
the upper layers, while the latter were a foot thick in some places. 
Thus in all our work at Dowkerbottom Cave we found (as far 
as I have yet seen in the remains) no proof of the existence of 
the older cave fauna, while on the other hand, we found distinct 
evidence that others who describe complete sections without such 
remains were mistaken in their conclusions. Some authorities 
have brought forward the peculiar form of entrance, and the narrow 
