St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1898-05-07
IN MAMMOTH CAVE.


m MAMMOTH CAVE.
Exhllarating Eject Of the Cool and
Germless Air.
The entrance to Mammoth Cave ID
reached by descending picturesque
pathway leading from the hotel down
the hillside over jutting moss and fern
covered limestone cliffs into beauti-
full glen extending from the top of the
hill down to Green river, which is 1914
feet below the mouth of the cave, and
about half mile distant. II the wealth
er is warm, as we near the entrance we
step into a bracing. cool, pure air.
yelling up from the cave and flowing
down the glen beneath the stratum of
lighter and warmer air. ! have stood
near the entrance and extended one
hand into temperature of 90 degrees,
while the other hand was extended into
n cool flowing river of air with tenn
perature of about GO degrees. The air
perature, summer and winter. of "a
degrees. The cave may be said to
breathe twice a year-inhaling during
the winter. and exhaling during the
summer. This breathing of the cave.
and the purity of the air and its free
dom from germs. are among the most
interesting problems to be studied. BY
what process the air in the cave be-
comes sterilized remains to be deter
mined.
But our faithful negro guide has
counted the party, selected the requi-
site number of lamps, and given the
word, and we follow him in single file
down the rude stone steps into the
vestibule of the cave. Turning, We
lcok up at the beautiful effect of day
light which we are leaving, and ad
lnire the delicate cascade falling from
the overhanging arch at the entrance.
Here our lamps are lighted, and we
enter this silent, mysterious, change
less abode of eternal night, where the
heat of summer and the cold of win
ter, the storms and thunders of the
outer world, never penetrate. A few
hundred yards and we feel the peculiar
sensation of emerging into expanding
space. We catch only glimpses of white
limestone projecting out of black shad
ows of the far-away walls and ceiling
of an immense, almost circular room
about 20 feet high, which our guide
proclaims the Rotunda.
We note the peculiar musical effect
of the human voice. Years age it was
my good fortune to hear a celebrated
German musical society sing in this
Rotunda. went far away in one of
the great avenues leading from here,
blew out my light. and sat alone in
the darkness, and listened while the
grand anthems rolled and reverberated
through the lofty corridors in majestic
waves Of melody. / could then appre-
ciate the inestimable privilege of the
few who heard Jenny Lind sing here,
and who in the Star Chamber heard
a member of her party render on his
violin the prayer from der Frei-
schultz"
When the Rotunda is illuminated we
note the perfect clearness of the atmos-
phere, the freedom from dust particles
of any kind, and we soon learn that
nowhere in the cave will even dust
rise upon our shoes. We note also the
exhilarating effect of the mir upon
the members of our party. 1t is he
lieved that the air has become oxy-
genated by chemical process; certainly, |
from its purity and dryness, it enables |
one to undergo exercise for hours /
without sense of fatigue. Here be-
fore us is evidence of the wonderful |
dryness OF the air. The saltpetre watts
erected in 1912, and the timbers which
have remained in their present position
since then, show no evidences of decay
In these watts the saltpetre was leached
from tho nitrous earth abounding in
the upper and middle dry avenues, and
used for the manufacture of gunpow-
der. The war of 1912 was fought, ON
the American side. with gunpowdel
made from saltpetre taken from caves.
and Mammoth Cave supplied the great
er part. One wonders how, in the alb
sence of germs and of decay. the earth
becomes charged with nitrogen. It'll
has been claimed that nitric acid in the
combining with the lime
stone, forms nitrate of calcium, and
the disintegrated waste from the walls
and ceiling yields the great supply Of
nitrogen abounding in the cave.
1t requires day and half 10 make
the regulation journeys through the
cave; one-half day to what is known
is the short route and an entire dayl
% the long or river route. but that by
10 means exhausts the objects Of IN
erest, and one may spend days visit
ng avenues and chambers and dome.
not included n the regular routes.-
John II. Proctor, in Century.