65 
YORKSHIRE CAVES AND POT HOLES. 
(Illustrated by the Lantern.) 
By Mr. S. W. CUTTRISS, M.I.E.E. 
November hth, 1907. 
Confining himself mainly to the Ingleborough district, the 
lecturer, after giving an outline of the differences in the 
strata formations, conducted the audience over and down 
a large number of Pot Holes and Caves with which 
the district abounds. To the south of the Craven fault the 
strata had sunk and to the north had risen. There was a 
difference between the two of many hundreds, if not thousands 
of feet. Whether it had been due to one side falling or to 
the other rising, no one could say exactly. But the effect 
was that south of a given line they had no limestone on the 
surface, so that that formation was cut off entirely and there 
were no cave formations on the south. 
The peculiarity of Ingleborough was that all the streams 
coming from the upper regions sank directly they struck the 
limestone. Not one followed its course down into the valley 
on the surface. That was unique in Yorkshire. The lime- 
stone was capable of slow dissolution by water charged with 
carbonic acid and consequently it gradually wore away the 
strata. The rain water falling on the ' surface of extensive 
limestone plateaus found out the cracks and dissolved the 
limestone away. There were miles of this limestone ground 
and the cracks were of considerable depth. As the dissolving 
action proceeded the fissures became enlarged and they 
became in some cases beautiful gorges. 
By diagrams illustrating syphon -action he explained the 
supposed structure which caused the ebbing and flowing 
well near Settle. They might go to it many times without 
being fortunate enough to see it work. He had been past 
it several times without seeing it work, until a few months 
ago. There was supposed to be a large cavity in the rock 
and a small channel which communicated with the well, and 
another channel which turned in the form of a syphon. 
In exploring caves they required a special outfit, — old 
clothes, a hard hat, plenty of matches, not all in one pocket, 
water-proof matches (wax matches dipped in melted paraffin), 
ropes and rope ladders, candles, telephones, etc. The lecturer 
