The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1876-11-16
Revelations Of Niagara Falls.

Prof. Huxley. in his recen. address at
Nashville. said
!. know it is thought very often that
men uf science are in the habit of draw
ing largely from their Imagination, but
IL is really not so The most sober,
careful considerations 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 history
Of the world Is of duration which, in
comparison with our human stands rd,
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
might fiji myself with the grandeur
aud beauty OF that extraordinary phe
nomenon il ia quite easy 10 sec that
the Niagara River has formed its own
valley, has cut It's way back through
the plateau Of rock from which il falls
for SOME six miles There Is not the
slightest difficulty In seeing that. The
great cliff from which II tulnbles is form
al of two kinds Of rock-hard rock ut
the top and soft rock underneath The
water un dermines the soft rock below.
when the solid stratum above falls
over
!. Yon can trace the gradual excavation
Of that valley for six miles from that
marvellous bluff. which. from Proctors =
monument. oyerlooks the plain OF On
tario. Now, the rate ut which that
work Is going on has not yet been pos
,ively ascertained. but We may be per
fectly certain Il AIN nov speaking large
ly within limits that the work of cut
ting back doos not 20 on at the rate OF
n yard in year We have six miles
of such cutting. which will bring you to
a period Of ten thousand years for the
cutting back Of Niagara alone. /, is
an immaterial matter 10 me how many
years IL takes. b1t il would be nearer
probability. much nearer the truth. If
bad said three or four times that
amount,
What relations does a period of that
kind bear to the vast duration expressed
by these vast lodges of strata which
form the globe We are people cur
ious enough 10 form "a very distinct cal
oulation of this. The sides of the cat
ar.ct through which Niagars is cutting
its WAY arc formed by masses # alln-
vial matter. which must be older than
the river which cuts through il. While
In that alluyial matter YOU find the re-
mains of sheli-fsh, undistinguishab
from those " hich now iuhabtt the lake.
! and along with them you iind-as has
been found the teeth of the msstodon
which we know from abundant eyi-
dence was an inhsbitant of the cont
nent of North America At a compare
lively recent period. The very last step
/ from tha. long series of changes, Of
/ which the limestone. upon which yon
are now Standing, indicates ono of the
/ older ones.
( Thus IL follows that the whole work
of Niagara occupies one Period OF this
vast duration. II relation To our dura-
! ton of time. that ten thousand years.
or whatever else il may have been, is
( bat an inhnitesimal fragment Of time,
81 far - the great phenomena OF the
globe are concerned During that vast
time the population OF the globe has
undergone a slow, constant and gradual
change, one species giving away 70 an
other. We have passed by slow and
gradual methods. without vast AMI sud
den changes, into that state Of thi"gs
which obtain AZ present
need not say that this view oi tie
past history # the globe is a very
different one from thu; which il con-
monty taken. II Is So widely different
that IT is absolutely impossible In sftec;
sny kind Of community. any Kind OF
parallel, far less any reconciliation, be
tween these two. One ot these must
I-s true The other IA not