Chapter I: Preface

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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.

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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