New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1842-11-26
Dr.. Smiths Lectures on Geology.
No. V.

t.
briefly explaining why the climate IS colder IN Eu-
rope than it is here under the same latitude. he
said II was because we are on the eastern edge Of
one continent, while Europeis on the western edge
of the other. The western edge of our continent
and the eastern of the other would be found to De
Of the sam. temperature. There is another
change going on, Dr.. S. said, which may produce
considerable alteration in the channels OF trade
The Ohio must become lower in summer, and the
floods of spring must become, in process OF nme
more disastrous. This will necessarily ensue as
the country gradually becomes cleared up. 1t Is
known that in some parts of the country the streams
are now gradually diminishing; and this Is per-
fectlv in accordance with what would De expected
The snow melts much more rapidly, and therefore
the floods will be much heavier, when the forests
are swept away than now when the country isnew
The process Of filing up lakes, DR.. S. said, IS
sometimes effected in different manner from that
mentioned last evening. The usua! way IS LOT
floods to wash alluvum into thenl-carrylng with
!, bonss. shells. earth, &c. But ct the battle OF
Austerltz 1000 Russians attempted to pass
frozen lake. The French fired bombs upon the
ice and broke it; so that these 1000 men, with
fearful shrek. sunk TO the bottom. These will
become fosszed in time, precisely as the remains
have been which we now nave from other ages
In J. 544 the Scotch army defeated by the
English, and troop Of horse seeking to escape
sunk into tn Solwsy bog-and there they remain
even to this day. Now in the course of time,
I IL
will be cut through by streams, and these bones
will be expo sed to the view of future generations
The number of human bones, Sc, now deposited
beneath The ocean and other waters of the earth
must be enormous The number Of ships los,
yearly at sea is about 10000 that the bed OF
the ocean must be strcwed with the bones and
works of men, At any upheasal OF the ocean $
bed these must be exposed.
The streams are constantly cutting away the
SOIL and whenever pebble gets into whlrllng
current cavity is soon formed as is now seen al
! Trenton Falls. OF Niagara the thing is
true. There was period when this continent
| was under the water: this we know because the
| limestone at Niagara could have been formed In
no other way. And at Lake Champlan are also
to be found shells precisely like those now exist
ing in Boston han Dor. After the lapse Of great
period the first upheaval of the Earth took place,
leaving wall guarding the sea coast as is now OBJ
served upon the coast Of France. There was then
no Niagara river-the sea covering entirely Lake
Erie and what is now tho river But there came
second upheaval which threw up the Niagara
limestone. Lake Erie then extended to the level
of the present fall-for Mr.. LYELL found upon
that level Lacustrne shells which must have grown
there. The quantity of water discharged is said
10 be fifteen millions Of cubic feet minute; and
it then fell 800 feet, whereas it is now bur l64
Thus in the progress of time the falls recede from
! the lake they have been growingAless and less in
hight, for the dip Of the strata backward is about
IS feet mile and the distance to which they have
receded is seven miles, As to the fact of recess
sion there can be no doubt, for it must have r, :
ult d from the nature of the case.
If we could tell the rate Of recession we could
fix the period Of the second upheaval; but this
Gu Inot well be done, though the common calcula
zion is that it has taken 35, 900 years to recede
its present position. This Dr.. S. thought too
long a time, for it seems evident that the recess
sion now goes on faster than it did at the early Pc
Rod of its EXISTENCE for the rock is much softer.
1t is proved that the upper stratum has tumbled
down at different periods, as that below it ha.
been worn away; for on sounding with a line, inn
mense beds Of rock have been found IN the river
below.
The order of the strata at the Falls is follows
Niagara Limestone. 20 feet thick
Snaie ..----.'.' 'oo
Limestone -.2u
Red Mari and Sandstone ........--
Sandstone
fed Mar!
The shaIe being soft, is now being washed
away when it recede. to certain distance, the
harder rock above becomes deprived Tits support
and fails away. But when the shale has been
washed away to certain point, the Fall can re-
ceie no faster than it can wear away the hart
limestone; and then the process will be extremely
slow.
But there is another circumstance which will
tend to accelerate the process; it is this-that the
dip inclines from the American shore the other
Thus the river runs, in effect side hill SO
it will gradually encroach upon the Canada shore
faster than it does upon ours-Goat Island, in the
end, becoming attached to the American side.
There is another reason fer supposing that less
than IS, 900 years have elapsed since the Fall was
at Lake Erie. The river began to run upon the
first upheaval of the Continent; and since that
time the banks Of these rivers have been gradually
washed away. DR.. S. said that within forty or
forty-fve years the rivers had worR away some ten
or twelve feet and this would give much less
time for the whole recession, which he therefore
thought could have occupied only some 10, coo or
1900 years.
Blu, water produces other effects than these
The velocity of currents and their power of trans
portation have been measured by biologists, and it
is found that when the current runs ar the rate OF
two miles an hour fine sand, or mud will be trans
ported; when 1t runs miles coarse and gravel
will be carried along; when 81 moderate round
pebbles, and at 8 we have angular pebbles But
when water r1shes with violence, rocks OF great
magnitude are swept along in its course. In
Switzerland and Scotland this has often happened.
CHI