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which are found in great quantities in these caves as well as in the
caves at Schartzfeld, are not petrified, indeed are not even imbedded in
the stalactites. There is also a kind of earth in these caves, which,
although surrounded by stalactite, has not passed into stone. From this
Swedenborg draws the conclusion that the water which gives rise to
stalactites is not of that kind which occasions petrification, and that indeed
it is known — here Carlsbad is probably referred to — that some kinds
of water have the power of enerusting, but not of actually petrifying
organic objects, such as branches, leaves, herbs and mosses. Swedenborg
therefore supposes that petrification is caused by the same liquid which
gives rise to quartz, etc., [that is, water containing silicic acid]. This is
in many cases correct, but on the other hånd carbonate of lime is a no
less important means of petrification, and Swedenborg himself mentions
in another place90 that he at Aix-la-Chapelle saw shell-containing strata
which had been converted into limestone.
The following chapter: »Observata circa origines lapidum, vulgo
quarts et spathum dictorum, et rationes probabiles, quod ortum suum
habuerint post tempora dilu viana»,180 also stands in close connection
with the two preceding chapters. Spar and quartz are especially
important kinds of stone, since they build the lodes in which veins of
metal are usually found. Cracks and cavities in mountains are most
often filled by them, and wdien strata in the mountains have been broken
up, they cement the pieces together again, everything pointing in the
direc-tion that the cavities were previously filled by some solution from
which the minerals in question were crystallized. Even betwreen the
surfaces of the layers we see veins of the same minerals, and in mines
they fill up places which would otherwise show themselves as clefts or
holes. In caves of stalactites we see the process still going on; if they
were completely filled up, the stalactites, wdiich appear to be the same as
spar, would form a mass resembling the lodes in mines. We also
see how small cavities are filled by crystals, and since all this is
proceed-ing even today, there is foundation for the belief, although it cannot
be fully demonstrated, that the mineral in question was formed after
the universal flood. The copper mine Kupperos in Lauterberg is given
as an example where a lode resembling stalactite widens and contracts
itself, the mineral vein being in the middle, as would be the case if
Baumann’s cave were filled up, that is, this cave furnishes an example
of an unfinished and progressing stage in the formation, while
Lauterberg is in the completed stage.
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