Also speleo-. [ad. F. spéléologie: see prec. and -OLOGY.] The scientific study of caves.
α. 1895. E. A. Martel, in Rep. 6th Geogr. Congr. (1896), 721. To make of speleology something else than a mere sport.
1899. Pop. Sci. Monthly, LV. 562. The southern half of Missouri and the Black Hills … offer … regions for the study of caves, or speleology.
β. 1895. Knowledge, Oct., 223/2. ‘Spelæology, the Science of Caverns,’ was the title of a paper by Mons. E. A. Martel.
1896. Geogr. Jrnl., VII. 221. An account of the position of Spelæology, the science of caverns, in geography.
So Spelæological a., of or pertaining to spelæology; Spelæologist, a student of, or authority on, cave-research.
1895. Knowledge, Oct., 223/2. It was shown that *spelæological investigation would be of value to many branches of natural science.
1900. Geogr. Jrnl., XV. 78. The progress of speleological exploration in Yorkshire.
1895. Martel, in Rep. 6th Geogr. Congr. (1896), 722. I hope … that the English *speleologists may be … incited to renewed investigations.
1895. Knowledge, Oct., 223/2. Much remains to be done by British spelæologists.
