The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-01
IN AVE.
ExhiIarating Effect of the Cool and
GcrmlesS Air.
J. r. Proctor, in the Century.

j. r. Proctor, in the Century.
The entrance to Mammoth Cave is reach
ed by descending a picturesque pathway
leading from the hotel down the hillside
stone cliffs into a beautiful glen extending
from the top of the hill down to Green
river. which is 1874 feet below the mouth of
the cave, and about half a mile distant. III
the weather is warm, as we near the en-
trance we step into q. bracing, cool, pure
air, yelling up from the cave and flowing
down the glen beneath the stratum of light
err and warmer air. L have stood near the
entrance, and extended one hand into a
temperature of 80 degrees, while the other
hand was extended into a cool
t TURNS of nab about g degrees. The air
within the cave has a uniform tempera-
turc, summer and winter, of 81 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 in
teresting problems to be studied. By what
process the air in the cave becomes ster-
iliZed remains to be
But our faithful negro guide has counted
the party, selected the requisite number of
him in single file down the rude stone steps
into the vestibule of the cave. Turning, we
look up at the beautiful effect of daylight.
which we are leaving, and admire the deli
cate cascade falling from the o~verhanging
arch at the entrance.
Here our lamps are lighted, and we enter
InlS silent, mysterious, c0dnR6l6SS aDOOG OF
eternal night, where the heat of summer
and the cold of winter, the storms and thun-
ders of the outer world never penetrate. A
few hundred yards, and we feel the pecu-
liar sensation of emerging into expanding
space. We catch only glimpSeS of white
limestone projecting out of black shadows
of the far-aWay walls and ceiling of an
immense, almost circular room about sew
enty feet high, which our guide proclaims
the Rotunda
We note the peculiar musical effect of the
human VOiPR Years 400 n So nv Onn6
fortune to hear a celebrated German must
cal society sing in this rotunda. l went far
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. 1 could then appreciate
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
F~reishutZ."
When the rotunda is Illuminated we note
the perfect clearness of the atmosphere, 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 air upon
the members OF our party. 1t is believed
that the air has become oxygenated by
chemical process; certainly from it's purity
ana drynesS 1t enables one to undergo eX-
ercise for hours without a sense of fatigue
Here before us is evidence of the wonderful
dryness of the air. The saltpeter watts erect
" III ia olIO lie lillOSlSs WHICH nave re-
manned in their present position since then
show no evidences of decay. In these watts
the saltpeter was leached from the nitrous
earth abOundlng in the upper and middle
dry avenues, and used for the manufacture
of gunpowder. The war of 1912 was fought
on the American side, with gunpoWder made
from saltpeter taken from caves, and Nam
moth Cave supplied the greater part. One
wonders how, in the absence of germs and
of decay, the earth becomes charged with
nitrogen. 1t has been claimed that nitric
acid in the atmosphere, combining with the
limestone, forms nitrate of calcium, and the
disintegrated waste from the walls and CELL
ing yields the great supply of nitrogen
Astounding in the cave.
1t requires a day and a half to make the
regulation journeys through the cave; one
half q day to what is known as the short
route and an entire day to the long, OIL
river, route. But that by no means ex-
hausts the objects of interest. and one may
spend days in visiting avenues and cham
hers and domes not included in the regular
routes.