Where the ossiferous deposit fills a vertical fissure it must be worked on the same plan as in ochre-mining, by sinking a shaft. To dig into it from below (where this is possible) is very dangerous, because of the large imbedded stones which fall sometimes without any warning.
The Preservation of Fossil Remains.
The fossil bones and teeth, which have very generally lost their gelatine and have a tendency to crumble and split to pieces in drying, should be gradually dried, and from time to time saturated with a weak hot solution of gelatine or glue. Silicate of soda, sometimes called “liquid glass,” or melted paraffin (not the oil), may also be used for the same purpose. If the bones are extremely soft, they may be rescued from destruction by letting them dry in the matrix, saturating them and the matrix with a solution of gelatine, and then clearing off the latter. In this manner I preserved the skull of the musk sheep which is now in the Museum of the Geological Survey in Jermyn Street, London.
APPENDIX II.—P. 40.
Observations on the Rate at which Stalagmite is being accumulated in the Ingleborough Cave. Proceed. Lit. and Phil. Soc. Manch. April 1873.
The only attempt to measure with accuracy the rate of the accumulation of stalagmite in caverns, in this country, is that made by Mr. James Farrer in the Ingleborough Cave, in the years 1839 and 1845, and published by Prof. Phillips in the “Rivers, Mountains, and Sea Coast of Yorkshire” (second edition, 1855, pp. 34–35). The stalagmite of which the measurements were taken is that termed, from its shape, the Jockey Cap. It rises from a crystalline pavement to a height of about two and a half feet, and is the result of a deposit of carbonate of lime, brought down by a line of drops that fall into a basin at its top, and flow over the general surface. On March 13th, 1873, in company with Mr. John Birkbeck and Mr. Walker, I was enabled by the kindness of Mr. Farrer to take a set of measurements, to be recorded for use in after years.
For the sake of insuring accuracy in future observations, three holes were bored at the base of the stalagmite, and three gauges of brass wire, gilt, inserted; gauge No. 1 in the following table being that on the S.S.E., No. 2 on N.N.E., No. 3 on the West side. The curvilinear dimensions were taken with fine iron wire, or with a steel measure; and the circumferential around the base along a line marked by the three gauges. The measurements 2, 3, and 4 of the table were taken on the 15th of March, by Mr. Walker, and their accuracy may be tested by the fact that they coincide exactly with No. 1, which I took two days before.
The lengths of wire, properly labelled, are deposited in the Manchester Museum, the Owens College, for future observers.