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                                  THE
                          SUBTERRANEAN WORLD.




                           LONDON: PRINTED BY
                SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
                         AND PARLIAMENT STREET

[Illustration: CARBONIFEROUS FOREST, CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD.]

------------------------------------------------------------------------




                                  THE
                          SUBTERRANEAN WORLD.




                                   BY

                          DR. GEORGE HARTWIG,

                               AUTHOR OF

   ‘THE SEA AND ITS LIVING WONDERS,’ ‘THE TROPICAL WORLD,’ ‘THE POLAR
                                WORLD,’
                     AND ‘THE HARMONIES OF NATURE.’

           _WITH THREE MAPS AND NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD._




                               NEW YORK:
                       SCRIBNER, WELFORD, AND CO.
                                 1871.




                                PREFACE.


                                -------


Nature displays her wonders not only in the starry heavens or in the
boundless variety of animal and vegetable life on the surface of our
earth. In the dark regions underground she likewise shows us much that
is remarkable or beautiful, or carries on gigantic operations, which are
sometimes beneficent and sometimes disastrous to mankind.

There lie concealed the mysterious laboratories of fire, which reveal to
us their existence in earthquakes and volcanic explosions. There, in
successive strata, repose the remains of extinct animals and plants.
There many a wonderful cavern may be seen, with its fantastic
stalactites, its rushing waters, and its noble halls. There have been
deposited the rich stores of mineral wealth—the metals, the coals, the
salt, the sulphur, &c.—without whose aid man would never have been more
than a savage.

The aim of the present work has been to describe the wonders of this
hidden world in their various relations to man, now raising him to
wealth, and now dooming him to destruction.

The author trusts that he may have succeeded in giving a sketch of the
phenomena resulting from the action of subterranean forces, which, with
his account of the wonders of the sea, of the tropics, and of the frozen
regions, may impart to the reader a fair idea of the history and present
condition of the wonderful world in which we live.

SALON, NEAR LUDWIGSBURG:
       _July 6, 1871_.




                               CONTENTS.

                                -------

                              CHAPTER I.

                        GEOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS.

 The Eternal Strife between Water and Fire—Strata of
   Aqueous Origin—Tabular View of their Chronological
   Succession—Enormous Time required for their Formation—
   Igneous Action—Metamorphic Rocks—Upheaval and
   Depression—-Fossils—Uninterrupted Succession of Organic
   Life                                                         Page 1


                              CHAPTER II.

                               FOSSILS.

 General Remarks—Eozoon Canadense—Trilobites—Brachiopods—
   Pterichthys Milleri—Oldest Reptiles—Wonderful
   Preservation of Colour in Petrified Shells—Primæval
   Corals and Sponges—Sea-lilies—Orthoceratites and
   Ammonites—-Belemnites—Ichthyosaurus and Plesiosaurus—
   Pterodactyli—Iguanodon—Tertiary Quadrupeds—Dinotherium—
   Colossochelys Atlas—Megatherium—Mylodon—Glyptodon—
   Mammoth—Mastodon—Sivatherium Giganteum—Fossil Ripple-
   marks, Rain-drops, and Footprints—Harmony has reigned
   from the beginning                                                8

                             CHAPTER III.
                          SUBTERRANEAN HEAT.

 Zone of invariable Temperature—Increasing Temperature of
   the Earth at a greater Depth—Proofs found in Mines and
   Artesian Wells, in Hot Springs and Volcanic Eruptions—
   The whole Earth probably at one time a fluid mass                31


                              CHAPTER IV.
                SUBTERRANEAN UPHEAVALS AND DEPRESSIONS.

 Oscillations of the Earth’s Surface taking place in the
   present day—First ascertained in Sweden—Examples of
   Contemporaneous Upheaval and Depression in France and
   England—Probable Causes of the Phenomenon                        34


                              CHAPTER V.
                SUBTERRANEAN WATERS AND ARTESIAN WELLS.

 Subterranean Distribution of the Waters—Admirable
   Provisions of Nature—Hydrostatic Laws regulating the
   Flow of Springs—Thermal Springs—Intermittent Springs—The
   Geysir—Bunsen’s Theory—Artesian Wells—Le Puits de
   Grenelle—Deep Borings—Various Uses of Artesian Wells—
   Artesian Wells in Venice and in the Desert of Sahara             39


                              CHAPTER VI.
                              VOLCANOES.

 Volcanic Mountains—Extinct and active Craters—Their Size—
   Dangerous Crater-explorations—Dr. Judd in the Kilauea
   Pit—Extinct Craters—Their Beauty—The Crater of Mount
   Vultur in Apulia—Volcanoes still constantly forming—
   Jorullo and Isalco—Submarine Volcanoes—Sabrina and
   Graham’s Island—Santorin—Number of Volcanoes—Their
   Distribution—Volcanoes in a constant state of eruption—
   Stromboli—Fumaroles—The Lava-lakes of Kilauea—Volcanic
   Paroxysms—Column of Smoke and Ashes—Detonations—
   Explosion of Cones—Disastrous Effects of Showers of
   Ashes and Lapilli—Mud Streams—Fish disgorged from
   Volcanic Caverns—Eruptions of Lava—Parasitic Cones—
   Phenomena attending the Flow of a Lava Stream—Baron
   Papalardo—Meeting of Lava and Water—Scoriæ—Lava and Ice—
   Vast Dimensions of several Lava Streams—Scenes of
   Desolation—Volcanoes considered as Safety-valves—
   Probable Causes of Volcanoes                                     53


                             CHAPTER VII.
                DESTRUCTION OF HERCULANEUM AND POMPEII.

 State of Vesuvius before the eruption in the year 79 A.C.—
   Spartacus—Premonitory Earthquakes—Letter of Pliny the
   Younger to Tacitus, relating the death of his uncle,
   Pliny the Elder—Benevolence of the Emperor Titus—
   Herculaneum and Pompeii buried under a muddy alluvium—
   Herculaneum first discovered in 1713                             81


                             CHAPTER VIII.
                    GAS SPRINGS AND MUD VOLCANOES.

 Carbonic-acid Springs—Grotto del Cane—The Valley of Death
   in Java—Exaggerated Descriptions—Carburetted Hydrogen
   Springs—The Holy Fires of Baku—Description of the
   Temple—Mud Volcanoes—The Macaluba in Sicily—Crimean Mud
   Volcanoes—Volcanic Origin of Mud Volcanoes                       88


                             CHAPTER  IX.
                             EARTHQUAKES.

 Extent of Misery inflicted by great Earthquakes—Earthquake
   Regions—Earthquakes in England—Great Number of
   Earthquakes—Vertical and Undulatory Shocks—Warnings of
   Earthquakes—Sounds attending Earthquakes—Remarkable
   Displacements of Objects—Extent and Force of Seismic
   Wave Motion—Effects of Earthquakes on the Sea—Enormous
   Waves on Coasts—Oscillations of the Ocean—Fissures,
   Landslips, and shattering Falls of Rock caused by
   Earthquakes—Causes of Earthquakes—Probable Depth of
   Focus—Opinions of Sir Charles Lyell and Mr. Poulett
   Scrope—Impressions produced on Man and Animals by
   Earthquakes                                                      97


                              CHAPTER X.
                    THE GREAT EARTHQUAKE OF LISBON.

 A dreadful All Saints’ Day—The Victims of a Minute—Report
   of an Eye-witness—Conflagration—Banditti—Pombal brings
   Chaos into Order—Intrigues of the Jesuits—Damages caused
   by the Earthquake in other places; at Cadiz; in Barbary—
   Widespread Alarm—Remarks of Goethe on the Earthquake            114


                              CHAPTER XI.
                              LANDSLIPS.

 Igneous and Aqueous Causes of Landslips—Fall of the
   Diablerets in 1714 and 1749—Escape of a Peasant from his
   living Tomb—Vitaliano Donati on the Fall of a Mountain
   near Sallenches—The Destruction of Goldau in 1806—
   Wonderful Preservation of a Child—Burial of Velleja and
   Tauretunum, of Plürs and Scilano—Landslip near Axmouth
   in Dorsetshire—Falling in of Cavern-roofs—Dollinas and
   Jamas in Carniola and Dalmatia—Bursting of Bogs—
   Crateriform Hollows in the Eifel                                121


                             CHAPTER XII.
                         ON CAVES IN GENERAL.

 Their various Forms—Natural Tunnels—The Ventanillas of
   Gualgayoc—Eimeo—Torgatten—Hole in the Mürtschenstock—The
   Trebich Cave—Grotto of Antiparos—Vast Dimensions of the
   Cave of Adelsberg and of the Mammoth Cave—Discovery of
   Baumann’s Cave—Limestone Caves—Causes of their
   Excavation—Stalactites and Stalagmites—Their Origin—
   Variety of Forms—Marine Caves—Shetland—Fingal’s Cave—The
   Azure Cave—Cave under Bonifacio—Grotta di Nettuno, near
   Syracuse—The Bufador of Papa Luna—Volcanic Caves—The
   Fossa della Palomba—Caves of San Miguel—The Surtshellir         133


                             CHAPTER XIII.
                             CAVE RIVERS.

 The Fountain of Vaucluse—The Fontaine-sans-fond—The
   Katabothra in Morea—Subterranean Rivers in Carniola—
   Subterranean Navigation of the Poik in the Cave of
   Planina—‘The Stalactital Paradise’—The Piuka Jama               149


                             CHAPTER XIV.
                          SUBTERRANEAN LIFE.

 Subterranean Vegetation—Fungi—Enormous Fungus in a Tunnel
   near Doncaster—Artificial Mushroom-beds near Paris—
   Subterranean Animals—The Guacharo—Wholesale Slaughter—
   Insects in the Cave of Adelsberg—The Leptodirus and the
   Blothrus—The Stalita tænaria—The Olm or Proteus—The Lake
   of Cirknitz—The Archduke Ferdinand and Charon—The Blind
   Rat and the Blind Fish of the Mammoth Cave                      156


                              CHAPTER XV.
                      CAVES AS PLACES OF REFUGE.

 The Cave of Adullam—Mahomet in the Cave of Thaur—The Cave
   of Longara—The Cave of Egg—The Caves of Rathlin—The Cave
   of Yeermalik—The Caves of Grenada—Aben Aboo, the Morisco
   King—The Caves of Gortyna and Melidoni—Atrocities of
   French Warfare in Algeria—The Caves of the Dahra—The
   Cave of Shelas—St. Arnaud                                       169


                             CHAPTER XVI.
               HERMIT CAVES—ROCK TEMPLES—ROCK CHURCHES.

 St. Paul of Thebes—St. Anthony—His visit to Alexandria,
   and death—Numerous Cave Hermits in the East—St. Benedict
   in the Cave of Subiaco—St. Cuthbert—St. Beatus—Rock
   Temples of Kanara—The Wonders of Ellora—Ipsamboul—Rock
   Churches of Lalibala in Abyssinia—The Cave of
   Trophonios—The Grotto of St. Rosolia near Palermo—The
   Chapel of Agios Niketas in Greece—The Chapel of
   Oberstein on the Nahe—The repentant fratricide                  178


                             CHAPTER XVII.
                       ICE CAVES AND WIND-HOLES.

 Ice-caves of St. Georges and St. Livres—Beautiful Ice-
   stalagmites in the Cave of La Baume—The Schafloch—Ice
   Cataract in the Upper Glacière of St. Livres—Ice Cavern
   of Eisenerz—The Cave of Yeermalik—Volcanic Ice-caves—
   Æolian Caverns of Terni—Causes of the low temperature of
   Ice-caves                                                       192


                            CHAPTER XVIII.
                       ROCK TOMBS AND CATACOMBS.

 Biban-el-Moluk, the Royal Tombs of Thebes—The Roman
   Catacombs—Their Extent—Their Mode of Excavation—Touching
   Sepulchral Inscriptions—Antony Bosio, the Columbus of
   the Catacombs—The Cavaliere di Rossi—The Catacombs of
   Naples and Syracuse—The Catacombs of Paris                      202


                             CHAPTER XIX.
             CAVES CONTAINING REMAINS OF EXTINCT ANIMALS.

 The Cave Hyena and the Cave Bear—The Cavern of Kirkdale—
   The Moa Caves in New Zealand—Various Species of Moas—
   Their enormous size                                             213


                              CHAPTER XX.
                SUBTERRANEAN RELICS OF PREHISTORIC MAN.

 The Peat Mosses of Denmark—Shell-Mounds—Swiss Lacustrine
   Dwellings—Ancient Mounds in the Valley of the
   Mississippi—The Caves in the Valley of the Meuse—Dr.
   Schmerling—Human Skulls in the Cave of Engis—
   Explorations of Sir Charles Lyell in the Cave of
   Engihoul—Caverns of Brixham—Caves of Gower—The
   Sepulchral Grotto of Aurignac—Flint Implements
   discovered in the Valley of the Somme—Gray’s Inn Lane an
   ancient Hunting-Ground for Mammoths                             221


                             CHAPTER XXI.
             TROGLODYTES OR CAVE-DWELLERS. CANNIBAL CAVES.

 Cave Dwellings in the Val d’Ispica—The Sicanians—Cannibal
   Caves in South Africa—The Rock City of the Themud—
   Legendary Tale of its Destruction                               232


                             CHAPTER XXII.
                               TUNNELS.

 Subterranean London—The Mont Cenis Tunnel—Its Length—
   Ingenious Boring Apparatus—The Grotto of the Pausilippo—
   The Tomb of Virgil                                              237


                            CHAPTER XXIII.
                         ON MINES IN GENERAL.

 Perils of the Miner’s Life—Number of Casualties in British
   and Foreign Coal Mines—Life in a Mine—Occurrence of
   Ores—Extent and Depth of Metallic Veins—Mines frequently
   discovered by Chance—The Divining Rod—Experimental
   Borings—Stirring Emotions during their Progress—Sinking
   of Shafts—Precautions against Influx of Water—Expense—
   Shaft Accidents—Various Methods of working Mineral
   Substances—Working in Direct and Reverse Steps—Working
   by Transverse Attacks—Open Quarry Workings—Pillar and
   Stall System—Long Wall System—Dangerous Extraction of
   Pillars—Mining Implements—Blasting—Heroes in Humble
   Life—Firing in the Mine of Rammelsberg—Transport of
   Minerals