Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-08-13

taken from the bed of the stream fully fifty
| feet below the common level Of the sur
| rounding country. What are they What
| do they Indicate! We are two little girls
| aged eight and ten years respectively, and
we would much like for You 10 answer US
| through The GAZETTE.
LOVE MoRELAND,
ALE, Tex. GUssIE REYNoLps.
| p. S.-We also send a rock out of our
| yard-the one with hole in il. There are
many like it to be found hereabouts
In.
G.. X.
Had it occurred to our young friends TO
| place numbers on the specimens sent, keep
| ing copy and description for their own
| reference. we might have been the better
| enabled TO make them understand us
| clearly, but we think we can get at it pretty
| well anyway. There are ten specimens
| in all, and they are very interesting. We
were extremely glad TO get them-such IA
vors from the young folks always please Us,
| showing, as they do, that the people to
take charge of the world after Us elders
have retired will be 4 people interesting
| themselves in science. the MODEST Roman
among all others so far as relates to human
| progress.
The large specimen not in the box, and
| looking like great, rough, whitish-colored
beet, is stalactite. To pronounce the word
correctly the accent must be placed on the
second syllable-get the old folks 10 fix that
| for you. In the box are two additional
stalactites, one looking like an ordinary
| long blood beet of the garden (small size,
save that like the large specimen its color
is dirty white, and the other near same
length but more irregular in form being
somewhat branched and jumbled about in
| its structure. Do you know what the Ger
| mans call noodles" They are made by
| rolling wheat dough out between the hands
in small rolls to be employed in thickening
soup. Well, this last named stalactite
| looks like it might have been made by
| taking up a handful of noodles" and
| squeezing them together, criss-crOss and
| every way, in a mass some six inches in
| length and an inch and half through at
/ the thickest point.
| a stalactite is usually formed in a cavern
under ground and it is more than merely
| probable that your stalactites were so
| formed. The canyon visited by you is just
| on the edge of what biologists call the coal
| measures, formation in which caves are
more or less common. Long, long ago,
| there was cave where the canyon now is,
| most likely, but the waters wearing out the
| deep canyon finally cut into and destroyed
| the cave, leaving the stalactites that once
| hung from the roof lying scattered about
| where you found them. A stalactite is
simply a rock icicle, SO to speak. You know
| how an icicle forms on the ewes of the
house. Water runs down slowly, and thin
| layers of ice freeze, one atop of the other,
until we have an icicle. That's how the
stalactite is formed, only no freezing fig
ures in the case. A little stream of water
heavily charged with lime trickles down
from the roof of the cave. II is what we
call hard water" A little Of the lime set
ties on the rock where the tiny stream
comes out, then a little more atop of that,
and so on until stalactite is made 1t
| takes very long time 10 form stalactite
The largest specimen sent (some ten inches
il length and six inches through was prob
ably hundredscof years in forming
Where the water dripping down from the
top of the cave strikes the rock floor beneath
formation similar TO the staactite is some
times built up in the form of cone. This
formation, while identical in character, is
distinguished from the other by being
called 4 stalagmite-accent on the second
syllable, the same as in the first instance
There are in the box two specimens which
have the appearance of wood (you can see
the grain), and two which have the appear
ance of bark. People sometimes call the
likes of this petrifed wood or petrified bark,
and not few think that wood or bark
placed in certain streams or ponds Will be
come so petriied in q short time This last
is all mistake. The specimens under con-
sideration are what we style lignitized
| wood, or lignitized bark-accent on the
first syllable. They sure enough represent
what was once wood or barb. but not that
of any species of tree now growing in any
part of the world. 1t was q growth of the
''coal age" so-called, and the lapse of time
necessary to get it into the condition as
characterizing it when found b. you was SO
IOllS tlIdl VIC Sildll uOt dLtcIlpt " give you
any figures on it.
One Of the wood specimens has scattered
over It numerous small glittering crystals
that may have made you think of diamonds.
They are not diamonds, however, but
| crystals of gypsum formed BY com biua-
ton of lime and sulphur.
The three very pretty specimens in the
box weighing about two ounces each, being
irregular in shape, though inclined to
roundish, and having a rich golden appear
ance when broken are iron pyrites-ac-
cented on the second syllable for correct
pronunciation. The mineral is one attract
ing great deal of attention on account of
its bright metallic lustre, not few finders
surprising it to be gold. On this last ac-
count it is often called fools gold" 1t is
rather a common substance and one OF no
particular value.
The brownish, cup-like rock from the
yard is low grade iron ore, common in
most sandy regions. One occasionally finds
it as hollow tubes, q foot or two in length.
Its composition is sand, cemented together
by iron brought as a solution in water. The
beautiful cactus growing in the hollow of
the specimen which you seem to have
pressed into service as a flower pot. is the
Cereus giganteus of botanists, a species
which grows up to the height of quite a tree