resemblance of a Mushrom, to the consideration of which, that I may
return, I say, we may also observe:

In the fifth place, that the droppings or trillings of Lapidescent waters
in Vaults under ground, seem to constitute a kind of _petrify'd_ body,
form'd almost like some kind of Mushroms inverted, in so much that I have
seen some knobb'd a little at the lower end, though for the most part,
indeed they are otherwise shap'd, and taper'd towards the end; the
generation of which seems to be from no other reason but this, that the
water by soaking through the earth and Lime (for I ghess that substance to
add much to it _petrifying_ quality) does so impregnate it self with stony
particles, that hanging in drops in the roof of the Vault, by reason that
the soaking of the water is but slow, it becomes expos'd to the Air, and
thereby the outward part of the drop by degrees grows hard, by reason that
the water gradually evaporating the stony particles neer the outsides of
the drop begin to touch, and by degrees, to dry and grow closer together,
and at length constitute a crust or shell about the drop; and this soaking
by degrees, being more and more supply'd, the drop grows longer and longer,
and the sides harden thicker and thicker into a Quill or Cane, and at
length, that hollow or pith becomes almost stop'd up, and solid: afterwards
the soaking of the _petrifying_ water, finding no longer a passage through
the middle, bursts out, and trickles down the outside, and as the water
evaporates, leaves new superinduc'd shells, which more and more swell the
bulk of those Iceicles, and because of the great supply from the Vault, of
_petrifying_ wafer, those bodies grow bigger and bigger next to the Vault,
and taper or sharpen towards the point; for the access from the arch of the
Vault being but very slow, and consequently the water being spread very
thinly over the surface of the Iceicle, the water begins to settle before
it can reach to the bottom, or corner end of it; whence, if you break one
of these, you would almost imagine it a stick of Wood _petrify'd_, it
having so pretty a resemblance of pith and grain, and if you look on the
outside of a piece, or of one whole, you would think no less, both from its
vegetable roundness and tapering form; but whereas all Vegetables are
observ'd to shoot and grow perpendicularly upwards, this does shoot or
propend directly downwards.

By which last Observables, we see that there may be a ver