417 
was merely a large hollow in the solid limestone rock; floods 
and glaciers forced in, through small apertures, pure unmixed 
clay or loam, and afterwards, as the apertures became enlarged, 
stones and gravel, mixed with clay. A period of quiet would 
then seem to have intervened, during which the 8 inches of 
stalagmite, now so firmly consolidated, were deposited. The 
formation of stalagmite was then arrested, and the deer 
crawled in to die. At this period the cave was probably very 
high, the softer stalagmite, which now blocks up many parts 
of the cavern, not having begun to form. 
We can hardly calculate how long the deer reclined on its 
hard bed before the stalagmite again began to ooze through 
the roof, and gradually covered up the skeleton. But this 
time it was much softer, and possibly more rapid in its 
formation than the hard 8-inch stratum. We have no data, 
however, from which to estimate the period during which 
this stalagmite was accumulating to the depth of 3 feet 
2 inches.* But again there was a change, and the stalag- 
mite having ceased to form, wolves, deer, and other animals 
appear to have inhabited the cave. I draw this inference 
from the fact that all the bones were immediately above the 
* The late Mr. Fairer, of Ingleborough House, commenced a series of experi- 
ments to ascertain the rate of deposition of calcareous matter in Ingleborough 
Cave. A boss of stalagmite, known as the Jockey Cap, is fed by one line of 
drops. It measures about 10 feet in circumference at the base, and the height is 
about 2 feet. It appears to contain about 8 cubic feet, or 9,450,000 grains of 
carbonate of lime. The drops were collected by Mr. Farrer on the 9th of 
October, 1851, after a rather wet period, and it required 14^ minutes to fill 
1 pint, say 100 pints in a day. In this pint was found only one grain of cal- 
careous earth, or 100 grains a day. If the water were supposed to yield up all 
its contained salt of lime, the number of pints of water consumed in producing 
this boss of stalagmite was = 9,450,000, and the years which elapsed in its 
formation = = aw ; from other experiments Mr. Farrer ascertained that, in 
6 years, the stalagmitic crust had been increased in height about 3 inches, or 
about one-tenth of the whole, and in diameter 2 inches, or about one-twentieth 
of the whole. (Philip's Rivers, Mountains, and Sea-Coast of Yorkshire, p. 34.,) 
Supposing, therefore, that the deposition of 3 feet 2 inches of stalagmite above 
alluded to in the Dowkerbottom Cave did not proceed more rapidly than that at 
Ingleborough, 76 years would elapse before the deer was finally covered up, and 
the wolves and dogs, &c, inhabited the cave. But probably it Was more rapid. 
- [H. D.] 
