Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-09-27
Huxley on Niagara.

know it is thought very often that
men of science are in the habit of
drawing largely from their Imagination,
but it is really not so. The most sober,
careful consideration of facts forces up
on you more and more determinedly
the conviction that the theory respect.
ing which we have this archaeological
evidence of "a period of the past his
tory Of the world, is of a duration
which. in comparison with our human
standard, may be regarded as almost
absolutely Infinite. Take. for example,
the case of the cataract of Niagara,
where have been recently spending
some time, so that I might fill myself
with the grandeur and beauty of that
extraordinary natural phenomenon /; it
is quite easy to see that the Niagara
river has formed its own valley, has
cut its way back through the plateau
of rock from which it falls for some
six miles. There is not the slight test
difficulty in seeing that. The great
cliff from which it tumbles is formed
of two kinds of rock-hard rock at the
top and soft underneath The water
uudermines the soft rock below, when
the solid stratum above falls over.
You can trace the gradual excavation
of that valley for six miles from that
marvellous bluff which, from Proctor's
monument. overlooks the plain of
Ontario. Now, the rate at which that
work is going has not yet been positive
ly ascertained, but we may be perfect
ly certain q am now speaking largely
within the limit) that that work of
cutting back does not so on at the rate
of a yard in a year. We have six
miles of such cutting, which will bring
you to period of 10000 years for the
cutting back of Niagara alone. 1t is
an lmmaterial matter to me how many
years it takes, but it would be nearer
probability, much nearer the truth, if
[ had said three or four times that
amount.
What relations does a period of that
kind bear to the vast duration ex-
pressed by these vast lodges of strata
which form the globe? We are peo-
pie curious enough to form very dis
tinct calculation of this. The sides
of the ravine through which Niagara
is cutting its way are formed by masses
of alluvial matter, which must be old
er than the river which has cut through
it While in that alluvial matter you
find the remains of shell-fsh undis.
tinguishable from those which now In
habit the lake, and along with them
you fnd-as has been found-tbe
teeth of the mastodon, which we know
from abundant evidence was an in
habitapt of the continent of North
America at comparatively recent
period, the very last step of t. at long
series of changes. of which the lime
stone, upon which you are now stand
ing, indicates one of the older ones.
Thus it follows that the whole work
of Niagara occupies one period of this
IL.
duration of time, that 0,0O0 years, or
whatever else it may have been, it is
but an infnitesimal fragment of time.
SO far as the great phenomena of the
globe are concerned. During that
vast time the population of the globe
has undergone slow, constant and
gradual change, one species giving
way to another. We have passed by
slow and gradual methods, withou.
vast and sudden changes, into that
state of things which obtain at present.
I need no: say that this view Of the
past history of the globe is very diff
ferent one from that which is common
ly taken. It is so widely different that
it is absolutely impossible to affect any
kind of community, any kind Of
parallel, far less any sort of reconcilia-
ton, between these two. One Of these
must be true. The other is not true.
j. D. Lee, Mormon Bishop, who
has for some days been on trial at
Beaver, Utah, on an Indictment of
murder for instigating and participat-
ing in the massacre of party of emf
grants in 1857. in the Mountain
Meadows, in that Territory, was yes
terday found guilty of murder in the
first degree" The massacre-12O
men, women and children being the
victims was one of the most atrocous
instances Of heartless barbarity of
modern times, and it is gratifying to
know that those guilty of are at last
to be brought to justice.