Towards the
farther end of the fissure, stalactites of solid ice were found,
displaying all the forms and more than all the beauty of limestone
stalactites. The other instance mentioned by Georgi occurred in the
mines of Serentvi, where two of the levels yielded perennial ice, and
were thence (Georgi says) called _Ledenoi_. A spring of water flowed
from the rock at a depth of thirty fathoms below the surface, and was
promptly frozen into a coating of ice a foot thick. Patrin[159] visited
Serentvi, but he did not observe any ice in the mines. He believed the
rock to be very ancient lava.
Reich[160] mentions a cavern on Mount Sorano which contains ice, quoting
Kircher;[161] but he seems to have misinterpreted his author's
Latin.[162] He also refers to the existence of ice in the mines of
Herrengrund in Hungary, and Dannemora in Sweden. Kircher, who has the
credit of having been the first to call attention to the increase of
temperature in the earth, made full enquiries into the temperature of
the mines at Herrengrund, but he was not informed of the existence of
ice.
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