The sun., 1873-04-21
PRoF. TyYDALL on AMERICA.
Farther Under niagara Falls than Ever
Mortal Foot had Troddcn.

LONDON, April 5-Professor Tyndall had
Intended to reserve any public disquisition upon
the oagerness Of his friends overcaine his hest
tatiOn, and the blank that has for some time
lecturer for last night, was hlled up TWO weeks
ago with the subject. "Niagara.' There Is always
crowd when he is to lecture but last nisht the
rush war tremendous; and whom the Professor
took his stand at o'clock. 1t was to he heartily
cheered by the largest audience ever assembled
In that room, which comprised many OF the
b most emilrnt persons IN the literary ana
scientific circles of London. He plunged at once,
hsurativey speaking. into Niagara; and the
! most interesting part Of his lecture wa perhaps
an account OF how he plunged into II literally.
He related how he came to fraterna terms
| with the man who hauDts Goat Island and piays
EolSs to s, ne cHys Of the MINDS HAVING per
| vance beneath the Horseshoe Fall as far a foot
| of mortal had ever trod, his guide Instr eted
| him TO put on for the adventure three pairs OF
| woollen pantaloons, two pairs Of wooden socks,
&C.. causing him to admire how, by expelience,
! this old man had discovered certain remote
| laws Of moisture. uamely-that q Ourh with
thick wooens, one gets wet. II remains the = me
| wet and keeps out sudden changes OF tempera-
| ture, when entering other water.
! Having proceeded a. far as adyenturers usual
| ly 20, they came to a heavy and deep stream,
dashing down between rocky sides
| The guide hesitated. looked doubtful. then en-
when up TO his Knees, and il became really for
| midHble when IL over his hips. However.
| he got ON the other side, and then turned upon
| Tyndall u look which said, "NOw come on j.
| Tyndall saw there was danger, and took time to
| plan what he would do In case OF each p2. sloie
|
that he might not have to plan when IN the
stream, he entered. When lie had reached the
eventuaIity occurred the bottom was more
| treacherods than he had expected and the dash
around and lost his balance. WhereupOn he
| nung himself into the stream. and was whirled
| and hoated into shallow water. hut on the same
| side from which he started. He then made at-
| other effort. with more caution as to his foot
| hold and arrived on the other shore. FROM
! that point hc penetrated further, a. the guide
said, than man al eyer gone before, unii nearly
at the apex Of the Horseshoe he locked up AID
| saw the great green half dome OF tie cataract
above his head.
on FIRST seeing the falls, which he approached
| from the American side. he was not disaIpoint.
| ed, but Vet not very much exalted. His mood
was not the very best perhaps, but IN any case
mind and eye must grow to the occasion. After
ward he sat perched in the top Of the tower on
Of the day and night, gazing upon the tremen-
dous fall. He observed that the waters mad
with certain periodicity, the effect Of which
was rather musical than noisy. The great roar
| of Niagara he described US existing chiefly in
the Imagination of travellers owing TO th fiat
ness Of the surrounding table land, there II lit
Tie sounding board far the fall and its roar is
as that at Devils Bridge In switzerland. As the
water falls rhythmically so the spray rises In
successive gauzy wells. giving a periodicity To
the outnashings Of the marvellous rainbow.
And when With these chata tacieristiSs Ter ~. the rch
with stresks OF silver foam are considered, " II
may be perceived that beauty is not absent,
He found the gorge below the suspension
bridge and the whirlpool TO be almost as won
derfui as the fall, and on the day when he was
guided 10 II by the photographer but for whom
he might have missed 1.-THE surface seemed
covered with broken ranbows. OF the vast
wave crests at this point. a. well as other views.
the professor showed a number OF admirable
with his magic lantern, and he had besides two
paintings and two maps, which give a fIll view
have omitted reporting from my notes the
purely scientinc PASSAGES OF the Professor lee
ture; The view he took was substantially that
made In front Of the lecture desk, which found
rather comical with memories Of Niagara in my
mind by which he illustrated the wearing away
Of the soft shae beneath the upper rock, and
the consseequent breaking down Of this strong
carpment through the table land at Lewiston
up To its present position: said that itwas prob
able that many falls such as the American Fail
had been found In that pr gress only to be
predicted that In 5000 years the Horseshoe Fall
must be above Goat Island, and all between that
| island and the American shore be dry land.
Avery interesting episode of the lecture, to
the sand blast With which he illustrated the
scientific Kind seems TO have more interested
Prof. Tyndall than the boston sand Blast
Works, through which lac was led by josiah
Quincy. Afterward he met In Philadelphia
Gen. Tiedmann, the inventor OF II, who gave him
and other materials produced by the blast. OF
course It would not have been Tyndsll II he had
|
In working IL last week he got his nose and mouth
so full of sand that he was annoyed by It for two
| days; so, previous tn his experiments last night
he nlled his nostrls with cotton. and asked the
audience to excuse any peculiarly IN his voice,
rietes Of lace and other patterns. greatly to their
delight. lie then showed how this carving Of
,he world 10y sand was ever going on: and eh-
tically carved ss Indian arrows. but which had
been touched only by abradng sand. lie said
that Professor Huxley was OF opinion that the
neck Of the sphinx had been carved out by the
wiud-drven sands Of the surrounding desert.
With these prelimnaries DIR. Tyndall showed
what grand phenomena Of erosion hal gone on
at Niagara, and so ended tho scientific part OF
lie took up fifteen minutes after the hour
(which he almost never oyerpasses by minutel
10 speak of the reception with which he had met
in America. and Of that country. lie said that
the Invitation which had taken him thither was
signed by twenty Ave men Of emnence, among
whom he named Emerson, Aeassiz, Holmes and
Others. That he had found there much 10 oprove
States was high, and read some extracts from a
lecture by the President OF Cornell University,
not been surpassed in the writings OF European
thinkers. lie alluded To some taunts that had
ens Sf ' poea9s "in recently dssed tnS IN
AmSF'p he did So could .ee With pain
| men who have rewarded themselves so hand.
somely for their extraordinary services "a
p their country could have, Witnessed, but
Of the American people II they did not see
| lnhL llS nehln WIS DNlllE SHOWN III lIlThNAnS
this corruption To the surface. The eloquent
, | peruTatiun, as | must call It, with which DIR
: | Tyndall concluded hs lecture. was an apprcciR
tion of the United states, and Of its people, =,
| warm and yet so removed from the common
forth, that even as his eye kndlcd with gcnerou
feeling the hearts of his hearers kindlcd, and
= | as his voice ceased, there followed paudit
which, though they may not have equallcd ever
r the moderate roar of NIAGARA, may have rccale,
l. | some queer sounds which hO SAYS ne hear,
b | when down under Horseshoe tall like TIM
, crao king II mmc cmoWblo whips"