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eaves of buildings, beams, branches of trees, &c., very gradually freezes. Other minerals than ice and calcite often occur in stalactitic growths. Thus we find in mines and in the cavities of mineral See also:

VEINS

veins stalactites of See also:

LIMONITE, or BROWN IRON ORE

limonite, fluorspar, See also:

OPAL

opal, See also:

CHALCEDONY, or CALCEDONY (sometimes called by old writers cassidoine)

chalcedony and gibbsite. These stalactites are never of See also:

GREAT

great See also:

SIZE

size, usually not more than 2 or 3 in. in length, and probably the method of origin is exactly the same as that of the larger and more See also:

COMMON

common stalactites of ice and of calcite. The conditions essential to the perfect development of stalactites appear to be (I) a very slow trickle of water from a fissure; (2) See also:

REGULAR

regular evaporation; (3) See also:

ABSENCE (Lat. absentia)

absence of disturbance, such as currents of air. If the See also:

DISCHARGE (adapted from the O. Fr. discharge, modern decharge, from a med. Lat. discargare, to unload, dis- and earn care, to load, cf. " charge ")

discharge of water is fast, irregular encrustations may be produced, or the precipitate of solid See also:

MATTER

matter may be entirely washed away by the See also:

MECHANICAL

mechanical force of the currents. Changes of temperature will interfere with evaporation, sometimes accelerating and sometimes retarding it, and the stalactites tend under such circumstances to stop growth or to develop irregularities and excrescences. Currents of See also:

wind produce the same effect.

For these reasons ice stalactites See also:

FORM (Lat. forma)

form most readily on See also:

CALM

calm See also:

COLD (in O. Eng. cald and ceald, a word coming ultimately from a root cognate with the Lat. gelu, gelidus, and common in the Teutonic languages, which usually have two distinct forms for the substantive and the adjective, cf. Ger. Kolte, kalt, Dutch koude

cold nights, and stalactites of ice or calcite are seen in greatest perfection in the interior of caves, where the See also:

sun's See also:

LIGHT

light does not penetrate, the temperature is steady, and there are no strong currents of air. In all See also:

LIMESTONE

limestone caves stalactites form in great abundance as glimmering white columns covered with a thin film of water. The great caves, such as those of See also:

ADELSBERG (Slovene Postojina)

Adelsberg (in See also:

STYRIA (German, Steiermark or Steyermark)

Styria), Jenolan (See also:

AUSTRALIA

Australia), the See also:

Mammoth See also:

Cave (See also:

KENTUCKY

Kentucky), the See also:

CAUSSES (from Lat. calx through local Fr. caous, meaning " lime ")

Causses See also:

DISTRICT

district in See also:

France, and the grottos of See also:

Belgium, are divided into See also:

chambers which are richly festooned with stalactites, and fanciful names are given to various See also:

groups according to their similarity to different See also:

OBJECTS

objects, natural or artificial. Ice caves of considerable size occur in the See also:

ARCTIC (Gr. "ApKroc, the Bear, the northern constellation of Ursa Major)

Arctic and See also:

Antarctic regions, and are draped with ice stalactites often wonderfully like those of limestone caves. Where the water drops upon the See also:

FLOOR (from O. Eng. flor, a word common to many Teutonic languages, cf. Dutch vloer, and Ger. Flur, a field, in the feminine, and a floor, masculine)

floor of one of these caves evaporation still goes on and an encrustation forms which may See also:

COVER (from the Fr. convert, from couvrir, to cover, Lat. cooperire)

cover the whole See also:

SURFACE

surface as an irregular See also:

SHEET

sheet. If the air be perfectly still, however, the drop which falls from a stalactite on the roof will always See also:

LAND

land on the same See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place and a See also:

PILLAR (0. Fr. piler, Mod. pilier, Late Lat. pilare, from pila, column)

pillar of deposit will rise vertically, till in course of See also:

time it meets and joins with the stalactite above. In this way a column is produced, which sometimes has a graceful form with a See also:

long straight See also:

shaft expanding somewhat at its upper and See also:

LOWER

lower extremities. As the stalactites thicken by deposit of layer upon layer of carbonate of lime, they rarely continue to be cylindrical but assume tapering forms with irregular surfaces. They seldom See also:

BRANCH (from the Fr. branche, late Lat. branca, an animal's paw)

branch, but sometimes they give off excrescences which may See also:

CURVE (Lat. curvus, bent)

curve upwards or downwards and occasionally long thin stalactites take their rise from these and grow downwards parallel to the See also:

main stalactite. Large stalactites may be three or four feet thick, but in that See also:

case they have usually formed by the coalescence of adjacent ones which enlarged till they met and were then covered with a continuous layer of deposit. Single stalactites 2 ft. in See also:

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

diameter are not rare. It is known that they are of very slow growth, and much See also:

SPECULATION

speculation has gone on regarding the length of time required for the formation of some of the largest stalactites.

From data obtained by measurement of the See also:

RATE

rate of growth at the present See also:

day it has been estimated that as much as two See also:

HUNDRED

hundred thousand years may have elapsed since certain thick stalactites began to grow. We know that many caves are of great antiquity from the fossil remains they contain, but these estimates are probably See also:

ill-founded, seeing that there is no certainty that the conditions have remained the same during the whole See also:

period of growth. See also:

Sir See also:

ARCHIBALD, 5TH EARL OF DOUGLAS (c. 1391–1439)

Archibald See also:

Geikie records that stalactites iz in. in diameter had formed beneath a See also:

BRIDGE

bridge in See also:

EDINBURGH

Edinburgh which was a hundred years old; in caves, however, the rate of formation is rarely so great as this. See also:

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

Inscriptions on stalactites in the Adelsberg cave after See also:

THIRTY

thirty years had been covered with a scarcely perceptible film of new deposit. In one of the Moravian caves a stalactite, about as thick as a See also:

goose See also:

QUILL

quill, was broken across in 188o and in 1891 it had grown three or four centimetres; from careful observations it has been calculated that one of these stalactites, 7 ft. long, may have been formed in 4000 years. The stalagmitic crust on the floor of caves is usually mixed with blocks which have fallen from the roof, See also:

sand, mud and See also:

GRAVEL, or PEBBLE BEDS

gravel carried in by floods, and the bones of animals and men which have inhabited the cave if it had an accessible entrance. Its formation must have been interrupted by many changes in the See also:

PHYSICAL

physical conditions of the district, and consequently it often occurs in layers which alternate with beds of a different See also:

CHARACTER (Gr. xapareri7p, from xap&crew, to scratch)

character. Some particulars regarding the See also:

INTERNAL

internal structure and growth of stalactites have been ascertained by See also:

PROFESSOR (the Latin noun formed from the verb profiteri, to declare publicly, to acknowledge, profess)

Professor W. Rinz of See also:

BRUSSELS (Fr. Bruxelles, Flem. Brussel)

Brussels. The first See also:

STAGE (Fr. 6/age; from Lat. stare, to stand)

stage of every stalactite is a See also:

low circular See also:

RING (O.E. hring; a word common to Teutonic languages; and probably cognate with the Lat. circus, Gr. KtpKOS or KpLKOS, Skt'. chakra, wheel, circle, cf. also " harangue "); in art, a band of circular shape of varying sizes, made of any material and used f

ring of deposit on the roof of the cave. The diameter of this ring corresponds to the breadth of a drop of water which is so large that it is on the point of falling. At the See also:

OUTER

outer surface of the drop evaporation goes on and supersaturation results in the deposit of a thin ring-shaped See also:

BAND

band.

At the centre of the drop no deposition takes place, and as this goes on after some time a See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short See also:

TUBE (Lat. tuba)

tube is produced; the width of this tube is about 5 millimetres and is fairly See also:

CONSTANT, BENJAMIN (1845-1902)

constant. The tube very slowly lengthens as deposit gathers at its' lower end: water is constantly dropping from it and its interior is always full. Very little material is deposited except at the orifice—hence in many caves long straight767 tubular stalactites can be seen not much more than a See also:

QUARTER (through Fr. from Lat. quartarius, fourth part)

quarter of an See also:

INCH (O. Eng. ynce from Lat. uncia, a twelfthpart; cf. " ounce," and see As)

inch wide, and with delicate thin walls. A little water, however, makes its way from the interior to the outside of the tube and is exposed to evaporation there, consequently the tube walls gradually grow thicker. The end of a See also:

SIMPLE

simple tubular stalactite of this type has small See also:

sharp See also:

TEETH (O.E. Eel); plural of tooth, O.E. top)

teeth or points which are the corners of crystals. These have the See also:

RHOMBOHEDRAL

rhombohedral faces of calcite, and are usually of a simple description: their corresponding faces are parallel, and an examination of the material of the tube proves that the whole See also:

mass has the same crystalline structure. We may, in fact, describe these stalactites as rounded, tubular crystals continuously growing but provided with crystalline facets only at their lower ends. Small lateral passages sometimes allow the water to 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 from the interior of the tube and their apertures become surrounded with lime deposits. In this way horns, twigs and branches arise, often curving upwards or downwards; they are always provided with a central tubule which may be a See also:

mere capillary. The substance of these offshoots is in crystalline continuity with that of the main stalactite, and the whole mass has a See also:

UNIFORM

uniform See also:

OPTICAL

optical See also:

ORIENTATION

orientation. In the See also:

MAJORITY (Fr. majorite; Med. Lat. majoritas; Lat. major, greater)

majority of cases the long See also:

AXIS (Lat. for " axle ")

axis of the stalactite corresponds to the optic axis of the calcite crystal, but in one See also:

GROUP

group of stalactites these two make an See also:

ANGLE (from the Lat. angulus, a corner, a diminutive, of which the primitive form, angus, does not occur in Latin; cognate are the Lat. angere, to compress into a bend or to strangle, and the Gr. ayKOS, a bend; both connected with the Aryan root ank-, to

angle of 15° with one another. An interruption in the See also:

SUPPLY (through Fr. from Lat. supplere, to fill up)

supply of water or an accidental fracture of the stalactite induce abnormal growth.

The end of the tube becomes obstructed or completely closed, and nodular or tuberculate growths are often the result. If the outer surface dries the next layer which is laid down may often be readily detached, as it is not firmly See also:

UNITED

united with the underlying material. In any case a second stage of growth ultimately arrives, when the central tube is no longer the See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief conduit but a See also:

general drip of water from the roof bathes the whole outer surface of the stalactite. Then small, See also:

FLAT (a modification of O. Eng. flet, an obsolete word of Teutonic origin, meaning the ground beneath the feet)

flat crystals of calcite appear with their basal planes directed outwards. These increase in number till they cover the whole mass, and as they grow outwards they develop into prisms whose axes are directed radially. In very old See also:

SPHERULITES (Gr. cchaipa, sphere, Mhos, stone)

spherulites the initial tube is covered with a great thickness of radiating calcite crystals deposited from the mineral solutions which trickle down along the See also:

EXTERNAL

external surface. When they are cut across they show concentric rings, some of which are due to stains of See also:

IRON [symbol Fe, atomic weight 55.85 (0=16)]

iron or See also:

MANGANESE (symbol Mn; atomic weight, 54.93 (0=16)], a metallic chemical element. Its dioxide (pyrolusite)

manganese oxides or insoluble materials brought down by the water; others are lines of cavities produced by interrupted or irregular See also:

CRYSTALLIZATION

crystallization. They resemble the rings of the See also:

wood of trees, but probably do not depend on seasonal changes but on purely accidental factors, so that they afford no See also:

CLUE

clue to the rate of growth. Stalactites also occur in the interior of See also:

LAVA

lava caves in the See also:

Sandwich Isles, See also:

SAMOA

Samoa, &c. Often the upper surface of a lava flow has cooled to form a crust, while the interior is still perfectly fluid, and it sometimes happens that the liquid See also:

BASALT

basalt has made its escape, leaving great cavities below the hollow roof of the lava. The interior of these caves is covered with a See also:

black shining film of glassy basalt, and black stalactites of lava hang down-wards. Their surface is sometimes changed to See also:

brown or red by the oxidizing See also:

ACTION

action of the See also:

ACID (from the Lat. root ac-, sharp; acere, to be sour)

acid vapours which occupied the cave after the lava retired.

These stalactites are tubular, with bluntly rounded ends, and probably their mode of growth is somewhat analogous to that of ice-stalactites. In microscopic See also:

section they prove to be glassy with small crystals of See also:

OLIVINE

olivine and See also:

AUGITE

augite; in this they differ from the ice and calcite stalactites which are crystalline throughout.

End of Article: STALACTITES (Gr. (rraXaicros, from vraXaQVecv, to drip)

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