174 
may, it is at all events a very noteworthy and remarkable for- 
mation. It contains no inscriptions or marks by which we 
might calculate the lapse of time occupied in its deposit ; but 
Mr. Pengelly tells us that it shows by its thin laminae that it 
was formed slowly ,* and by its great thickness — sometimes 
fully twelve feet — that in all probability the time over which 
it extended vastly exceeded that of the modern granular floor. 
According to Mr. McEnery, it was in some places (in the 
bears' den) silicious, and struck fire with the pickaxe. f 
Mr. Pengelly calls this the old floor of crystalline stalagmite, 
and relies upon it to make up a large portion of his 720,000 
years. I cannot understand the argument, that the thinness 
of the laminae implies a long period of time. That which I do 
see is that it must have been formed under very different cir- 
cumstances from the upper floor, which, as we have seen, is 
granular , whilst this is crystalline. The difference arises 
probably from the fact of its having crystallized under the 
influence of a great excess of carbonic acid, as an experiment 
which is easily tried seems to show. Mr. McEnery observes 
with great propriety that “ according to the variation in the 
chemical fluids at different points of the work, this substance 
was deposited in crystalline beds or granular spongy masses."^ 
But what is the explanation of its deposit ? I may be par- 
doned for withholding my assent to theories which seem to me 
insufficient. Mr. P. says, “ the conformation of the hill con- 
taining Kent's Hole renders it certain that the only water 
entering the cavern is the rain which falls on the hill itself, 
and the only source of stalagmitic matter is the limestone shell 
of the cavern."§ This may be the case now, but it was other- 
wise, he admits, when the red earth was washed in. 
Mr. Pengelly says, “ When the bottoms of the valleys wero 
at least one hundred feet above their present levels, persistent 
streams or fitful land-floods carried the characteristic red loam 
into these caverns." || Very probably, but then what becomes 
of the tranquil deposit theory ?^f 
“ Lastly, we reach the period of the breccia, when thero was 
carried into the cavern (but how and from whence ?) a loam of 
darker red and rock fragments, of more distant derivation than 
those which compose the cave-earth." 
Even here, I regret to say, “were indications of man ; for 
a flint flake and a perfectly angular and sharp flint chip were 
found three feet deep in the breccia , mingled with the remains of 
* Comp. p. 15. t Lit. K.C., p. 51. J Lit. K. C., p. 42. 
§ Geology, p. 27. || Antiquity of Man, p. 32. 
Ancient Cave Men, p. 8. 
