SUBTERRANEAN WONDERS

              'HE wonderful work of water in sculptur-
                ing the surface of the earth is matter
                of common observation and of common
                remark. Hill and valley, gorge, canon
                and waterfall, all have been seen in
                intimate relation; no rock so hard that
it can forever resist the action of the stream; no
mountain mass so great that it will not some time yield
entirely to water; no valley so deep it may not be
graven deeper or even filled to top by the transporting
power of running streams. These changes all occur on
the surface, and from our familiarity with them fail,
often, to engage our close attention.
   But there is no rock so dense that through it water
will not pass; no union of particles so intimate but the
secret chemical processes of the world beneath can
sever them; no place where all conditions of ordinary
change associated with surface laws are so variable as in
the underground world.
   The visitor to these caverns must not forget the
surface world when he walks through their immense
gorges, their magnificent avenues, their Titanic halls,
their star-bedecked domes. On every hand he will see
a wealth of features which always emphasize the aspects
of the outer world and explain them in a new language.



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