FEB. 1901. OBSERVATIONS ON INDIANA CAVES—FARRINGTON. 253 
described by Collett* as ‘‘a vast elliptical amphitheatre * * * 
The sides are built up with massive ledges of limestone, thinning 
and converging upward into a monster dome with a flat elliptical 
crown 50x20 feet in diameter. The center of this vast room is piled 
up with a great mass of rocky debris fallen from the immense cavity 
above.” Blatchleyt gives the exact measurements of the hall, so far 
as its length and breadth are concerned, as 144 feet and 56 feet 
respectively. He gives further the following graphic description of 
the Pillar: ‘*Themass of fallen rock in the center, known as ‘ Capi- 
tol Hill,’ is about 32 feet in height, and is crowned to a depth of 
several feet with an immense mass of stalagmitic material. From 
the center of this mass rises from the top of the hill the grandest 
natural wonder in Wyandotte Cave—the great fluted column of satin 
spar or crystalline carbonate of lime known as the ‘Pillar of the 
Constitution.’ Perfectly cylindrical, 71 feet in circumference, and 
extending from the crest of the hill to the ceiling above, this enorm- 
ous column exceeds in magnitude any similar formation in any known 
cave on earth.’”’ No statement of the height of the Pillar is given by 
this author. Collett states that the Pillar is about 35 feet high, and 
Mr. H. A. Rothrock, the present manager of the cave, informs me 
that this is undoubtedly correct, so far as the southern side of the 
Pillar is concerned. Owing to the fact that the stalagmite is situated 
a little to one side of the apex of the cone of debris, the deposit has 
formed about ten feet farther down on the southern side than on the 
northern. On the northern side, therefore, the height is about 25 
feet. The mean of these, or 30 feet, may be taken as the height 
above the debris as a whole. ‘The intimate structure of the mass as 
shown by examining fragments taken from the pit artificially exca- 
vated at its base is distinctly banded or onyx-like. The individual 
bands are so narrow as to be scarcely distinguishable with the naked 
eye, but these are grouped into series of larger bands, 0.5 mm. to 
5 mm. in thickness, which differ in color or in structure so as to be 
plainly distinguished from one another. A secondary fibrous struc- 
ture in which the fibres are at right angles to the plane of deposition 
has been developed through most of the bands. The latter lie for 
the most part nearly horizontal, but occasionally are highly contorted. 
The only statement I can find as to the mineralogical nature of the 
substance of the Pillar is that of Blatchley, who refers to it as made 
up of ‘‘satin spar, the purest form of carbonate of lime.” Having 
examined somewhat carefully the substance of several hand speci- 
*Indiana Geol. Survey, 1878, p. 473. 
+O. cit., p. 156. 
