30 A.M. it had risen to 1 deg. above zero. On the
17th of October, at 7 A.M., the thermometer stood at 1/2 deg., and at 4 P.M.
it gave the same register.
M. de Cossigny found that the entrance to the cave was rather more than
150 feet above the Abbey of Grace-Dieu, and about half a league distant
by the ordinary path. A great part of his account is occupied by
contradictions of previous accounts, especially in the matter of
dimensions,[184] The people of Besancon had urged him to stay only a
short time in the cave, because of the sulphureous and nitrous
exhalations, but he detected no symptoms of anything of that kind. The
most curious thing which he saw was the soft earth which lay, and still
lies, at the bottom of the long slope of ice by which the descent is
made; and he subjected this to various chemical tests and processes, but
could not find that it contained anything different from ordinary
earth.[185]
When M. de Cossigny visited the cave, there were thirteen or fourteen
columns of ice, from 6 to 8 feet high, and he was in consequence
inclined to doubt the accuracy of the statement of M.
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