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which brings us to the inland and western entrance of that prodigious reputed trans-ocean subway from the United States to the British Isles! But where, oh where is the other end?

   "Curiously, as this inquiry was being made and investigation made of what would be the longest cavern in the world, there came news from across the waters of the Atlantic, of the exploration of what is said to be the deepest cavern in the world (that is, the deepest cave at the time of the writing of Perry’s book - Branton)!

   "This is in a mountain near Grenoble, France, known as Dent de Crolles, which, according to a copyrighted article in the New York Herald-Tribune by John O'Reilly, a staff correspondent, is 2,265 feet deep, and its exploration to that depth by French speleologists, takes from Italy the long-held record for the deepest cavern, the Great Hole of Preta, near Verona, which is 2,193 feet deep. (Note: page 550 of the 1979 edition of the GUINESS BOOK states that the Gouffre Berger, near Isere, France, was explored to a depth of 3,743 feet in July of 1968. But today’s world record depth of a cave [circa the mid-1980's that is, when the INNER EARTH ENTRANCES series first came out - Branton] is the Reseau de la Pierre Saint Martin. It was taken to a depth of 4,370 feet and "has been explored via a number of entrances, and has never been entirely descended at any one time." - B.W.)

   "'America has some large caverns, but falls short of the record for depth,' wrote Mr. O'Reilly, who made the mountain climb and cave descent in person, with Pierra Chevalier, president of the Speleo-Club Alpin de Lyon, and fellow members of the club, in may, 1947.

   "But America may find that it holds the record of the longest cave in the world beneath its land,