"…decorated roofs, dark gothic arcs, twisted spirals, giant garlands of cypress- and palm-tree leaves, ornamented columns, grave-like crypts, enormous lustres of cold white stone with countless water drops shining like diamonds… …even more impressive due to numerous tiny light points, trying to maintain against the gloomy shadow realm of death…" this way and even more ludicrous does it sound when men try to express the impression of dripstone formations in words (in this case in the New York Times from the year 1881).