THE ROYAL ARTILLERY INSTITUTION, 
309 
KEPOKT 
ON TUB 
“GENISTA”* CAVE, WINDMILL HILL, GIBRALTAR. 
[Published in the Gibraltar Chronicle, January 23, 1865.] 
The following highly interesting report on the subject of the Bone Cave 
at Windmill Hill, was addressed by the late Dr Falconer and Professor Busk 
to His Excellency General Sir William Codrington, Governor of Gibraltar in 
October last: so many officers of the Regiment have at some period or other 
served in that Fortress, that it has appeared to the Committee worth while 
to give publicity to it in these “ Proceedings,” for their information, illus¬ 
trating as it does in a remarkable manner the discoveries which still await 
intelligent research even in quarters the most unpromising. 
To His Excellency 
General Sir W. J. CODRINGTON, K.C.B., &c.. 
Governor of Gibraltar . 
Sir, 
The circumstances which have led to our visit to Gibraltar, and the objects 
we have had in view are so well known to your Excellency, that it is 
unnecessary on our part to do more than refer to one or two incidents in 
the early history of the Cave. 
2. When the interesting objects contained in the upper chambers of 
the “ Genista” cave on Windmill Hill were brought to light by Captain 
Brome, your Excellency addressed a letter to the Secretary at War, giving a 
preliminary report on the results. That communication was forwarded from 
the War Office to the President of the Geological Society of London, with 
a request for an opinion as to the importance, in the interest of science, of 
following up the exploration, and for suggestions as to the manner in which 
it could be best conducted. The reply led to the sanction, by the Secretary 
at War, of the further exploration of the cavern, by means of the labour of 
the military prisoners, under the able superintendence of Captain Brome, 
* “ Genista—a species of the broom plant. The planta-genista gave its name to the great house of 
Plantagenet. The Professors name the cave, under a Latin guise, after its discoverer, Captain 
Brome. This kind of transmutation was formerly a favourite conceit of the learned. The real 
namo of Luther’s friend Melancthon (McAav )(0o)V) was Scliwarzerde, anglice Black-earth.”— 
Note of Editor Gibr. Chron. 
