Online Encyclopedia

Fairy Grotto and in Pensico Avenue; but, considering the magnitude of Mammoth Cave, its poverty of stalactitic ornamentation is remarkable. The See also:

WEALTH

wealth of crystals is, how-ever, surprising, and these are of endless variety and fantastic beauty. See also:

Cleveland's See also:

CABINET

Cabinet and See also:

Marion's Avenue, each a mile long, are adorned by myriads of See also:

GYPSUM

gypsum rosettes and curiously See also:

TWISTED

twisted crystals, called " oulopholites." Thee cave See also:

FLOWERS, ARTIFICIAL

flowers are unfolded by pressure, as if a sheaf were forced through a tight binding, or the crystal See also:

fibres curl outward from the centre of the See also:

GROUP

group. Thus spotless See also:

ARCHES, COURT OF

arches of 50 ft. span are embellished by floral clusters and garlands, hiding nearly every See also:

FOOT

foot of the See also:

grey See also:

LIMESTONE

limestone. The botryoidal formations See also:

HANGING

hanging by thousands in See also:

Mary's Vineyard resemble mimic clusters of grapes, as the oulopholites resemble See also:

ROSES, WARS OF THE

roses.

Again, there are See also:

chambers with drifts of snowy crystals of the sulphate of See also:

MAGNESIA

magnesia, the ceilings so thickly covered with their efflorescence that a loud concussion will cause them to fall like flakes of See also:

SNOW (in O. Eng. sndw; a common Indo-European word; cf. in Teutonic languages, Ger. Schnee, Du. sneeuw; in Slavonic snieg', Lith. snegas; Gr. vi4a, Lat. nix, nivis, whence the Romanic forms, Ital. neve, Fr. neige, &c.; Ir. and Gael. sneachd; the original

snow. Many small rooms and tortuous paths, where nothing of See also:

SPECIAL

special See also:

INTEREST

interest can be found, are avoided as much as possible on the See also:

REGULAR

regular routes; but certain disagreeable experiences are inevitable. There is peril also in the vicinity of the deep pits. The one known as the Bottomless Pit was for many years a barrier to all further exploration, but it is now crossed by a wooden See also:

BRIDGE

bridge. Long before the See also:

shaft had been cut as deep as now the See also:

WATER

water flowed away by a channel gradually contracting to a See also:

SERPENTINE

serpentine way, so extremely narrow as to be called the See also:

FAT (O.E. fdett; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vet, Ger. Fett, &c., and may be ultimately related to Greek Irian, and =apos, and Sanskrit pivan)

Fat See also:

Man's Misery. The walls, only 18 in. apart, See also:

CHANGE (derived through the Fr. from the Late Lat. cambium, cambiare, to barter; the ultimate derivation is probably from the root which appears in the Gr. «a urmu', to bend)

change direction eight times in 105 yds., while the distance from the sandy path to the ledge overhead is but 5 ft. The rocky sides are finely marked with waves and ripples, as if See also:

RUNNING

running water had suddenly been petrified. This winding way conducts one to See also:

RIVER

River See also:

Hall, beyond which See also:

lie the crystalline gardens that have been described. It used to be said that, if this narrow passage were blocked up, See also:

ESCAPE (in mid. Eng. eschape or escape, from the O. Fr. eschapper, modern echapper, and escaper, low Lat. escapium, from ex, out of, and cappa, cape, cloak; cf. for the sense development the Gr. iichueoOat, literally to put off one's clothes, hence to sli

escape would be impossible; but an intricate See also:

WEB (a word common to Teutonic languages, cf. Du. webbe, Dan. vaev, Ger. Gewebe, all from the Teutonic wabh—to weave)

web of fissures, called the Corkscrew, has been discovered, by means of which a See also:

GOOD, JOHN MASON (1764-1827)

good climber, ascending only a few See also:

HUNDRED

hundred feet, lands loon yds. from the mouth of the cave, and cuts off one or two See also:

MILES, NELSON APPLETON (1839— )

miles. The See also:

WATERS, TERRITORIAL

waters, entering through numerous domes and pits, and falling, during the See also:

RAINY, ROBERT (1826-1906)

rainy See also:

SEASON (0. Fr. seson, seison, mod. saison, Lat. satio, sowing time, the spring, from serere, to sow; in Late Lat. the word is found with its present meaning, the spring being considered as particularly the season of the year)

season, in cascades of See also:

GREAT

great See also:

VOLUME

volume, are finally collected in River Hall, where they See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form several extensive lakes, or See also:

rivers, whose connexion with See also:

Green River is known to be in deep springs appearing under arches on its margin. When-ever there is a freshet in Green River the streams in the cave are joined in a continuous See also:

BODY

body of water, the rise sometimes being 6o ft. above the See also:

low-water See also:

mark. The subsidence within is less rapid than the rise; and the streams are impassable for about seven months in each See also:

YEAR

year.

They are navigable from May to See also:

OCTOBER

October, and furnish interesting features of cave scenery. The first approach is called the Dead See also:

Sea, embraced by cliffs 6o ft. high and 100 ft. long, above which a path has been made, whence a See also:

stair-way leads down to the See also:

banks of the river See also:

STYX

Styx, a body of water 40 ft. long, crossed by a natural bridge. See also:

Lake Lethe comes next—a broad See also:

basin enclosed by walls 90 ft. high, below which a narrow path leads to a See also:

PONTOON (Fr. ponton, from Lat. pons, a bridge)

pontoon at the See also:

NECK (O. Eng. hnecca; the word appears in many Teutonic languages; cf. Dutch ride, Ger. Nacken; in O. E. the common word was heals; cf. Ger. Hals)

neck of the lake. A See also:

BEACH

beach of the finest yellow See also:

sand extends for 500 yds. to See also:

ECHO (Gr. I'Xw)

Echo River, the largest of all being from 20 to 200 ft. wide, lo to 40 ft. deep and about three-quarters of a mile long. It is crossed by boats. The arched passage-way is very symmetrical, varying in height from 19 to 35 ft., and famous for its musical reverberations—not a distinct echo, but an harmonious prolongation of See also:

sound for from 10 to 30 seconds after the See also:

ORIGINAL

original See also:

TONE, THEOBALD WOLFE (1763-1798)

tone is produced. The long vault has a certain keynote of its own, which, when firmly struck, excites harmonics, including tones of incredible depth and sweetness. There are several other streams here besides those in River Hall. On one of them F. J. See also:

Stevenson of See also:

LONDON

London is said to have floated for seven hours without finding its end. A glance at the accompanying See also:

map will show that there is a See also:

LABYRINTH (Gr. Xa(3vpcvOos, Lat. labyrinthus)

labyrinth of avenues and chasms seldom visited and never fully explored.

New discoveries are frequently made. An exploring party in 1904 found a curious complex of upper and See also:

LOWER

lower galleries accessible from the most eastern portion of the cave; beyond which another party, in 1905, discovered several large domes previously unknown. H. C. Hovey, in 1907, was led by See also:

EXPERT (Lat. expertus, from experiri, to try)

expert guides into still wilder recesses, where a See also:

SERIES (a Latin word from serere, to join)

series of five domes were found, that opened into each other by tall gateways; each dome being 6o ft. in See also:

DIAMETER (from the Cr. &a, through, µErpov, measure)

diameter and 175 ft. high. This magnificent group has since been named "Hovey's See also:

CATHEDRAL

Cathedral Domes." No instrumental survey of the Mammoth Cave has ever been allowed by the management. The best map possible is therefore only the result of estimates and partial measurements. The depths of the most noted pits have easily been ascertained by See also:

LINE

line and plummet and the height of several large domes has been found by the use of small balloons. While making a survey exclusively for the cave-owners in 1908, Max Kaemper of See also:

Berlin, See also:

Germany, See also:

MAMUN (c. 786-833)

MAMUN 533 forced an opening from the See also:

main cave into a remarkable region to which the See also:

general name of " See also:

VIOLET

Violet See also:

CITY (through Fr. cite, from Lat. civitas)

City " was given, in See also:

HONOUR (Lat. honos or lwnor, honoris; in English the word was spelled with or without the u indifferently until the 17th century, but during the 18th century it became fashion-able to spell the word " honor "; Johnson's and Webster's Dictionaries stereoty

honour of Mrs Violet See also:

Blair See also:

JANIN, JULES GABRIEL (1804-1874)

Janin, who owned a third of the Mammoth Cave See also:

ESTATE (through O. Fr. estat, mod. flat, from Lat. status, state, condition, position, stare, to stand)

estate. Special features are Kaemper Hall, Blair See also:

Castle, the See also:

MARBLE (from Lat. marmor, Gr. pApµapos, shining stone)

Marble See also:

Temple and Walhalla. There are eleven enormous pits, many large fine stalactites and stalagmites and surprisingly beautiful mural decorations. Dr Hovey made and published (1909) a new handbook embodying all known discoveries of importance, with four See also:

SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch-maps of the routes of usual See also:

EXHIBITION

exhibition.

The faunaof Mammoth Cave has been classified byF. W.See also:

Putnam, A. S. Packard and E. D. See also:

Cope, who have catalogued twenty-eight See also:

SPECIES

species truly subterraneous, besides those that may be regarded as stragglers from the See also:

SURFACE

surface. They are distributed thus: Verlebrata, 8 species; Insecta, 17; See also:

ARACHNIDA

Arachnida, 12; See also:

MYRIAPODA (Gr. for " many-legged ")

Myriapoda, See also:

CRUSTACEA

Crustacea, 5; Vermes, 3; See also:

MOLLUSCA

Mollusca, r. See also:

EHRENBERG, CHRISTIAN GOTTFRIED (1795-1876)

Ehrenberg adds a See also:

list of 8 Polygastric See also:

INFUSORIA

Infusoria, z fossil infusorian, 5 Phytolitharia and several microscopic See also:

FUNGI (p1. of Lat. fungus, a mushroom)

fungi. A See also:

bed of Agaricus was found by the writer near the river Styx; and upon this hint an See also:

ATTEMPT (Lat. adtemptare, attentare, to try)

attempt has been made to propagate edible fungi in this locality. All the known forms of plant-See also:

LIFE

life are either fungi or allied to them, and many are only microscopic. The most interesting inhabitants of Mammoth Cave are the See also:

BLIND, MATHILDE (1841—1896)

blind, wingless grasshoppers, with extremely long antennae; blind, colourless See also:

CRAYFISH (Fr. ecrevisse)

crayfish (Cambarus pellucidus, Telk.); and the blind See also:

fish, Amblyopsis spelaeus, colourless and viviparous, from 1 in. to 6 in. long. The Cambarus and Amblyopsis have wide See also:

DISTRIBUTION (Lat. distribuere, to deal out)

distribution, being found in many other caves, and also in deep See also:

wells, in Kentucky and See also:

INDIANA

Indiana.

Fish not blind are occasionally caught, which are apparently identical with species existing in streams outside. The true subterranean See also:

FAUNA

fauna may be regarded as chiefly of See also:

PLEISTOCENE

Pleistocene origin; yet certain forms are possibly remnants of See also:

TERTIARY

Tertiary life.

End of Article: MAMMOTH

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.

» Add information or comments to this article.

Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.

Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
MAMMON

[next]
MAMMOTH (0. Russ. mammot, mod. mamant; the Tatar wo...