Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1876-09-13
EVENING STAR.
Prof Huxley ON Nia.arn.

GEOLOGICAL VENTILATION M.pf nv rHr
fALLs-hsrInArfb TIME OF rakIR cur
tine BACK THROUGH SIX MILES OF
ROCK. 10000 YEARS.
lETOm Pro-. RuzieV's Address al NaSh,zlle,
Spill
THROW u IS thought very often that men
OF science are In the habit OF awtng Ia rsalr
from their ima gipstion, but IL is really NO,
so. The most sober, careful Consideration Of
fsets forces upon you more and more deter
mtptdly the conviction that the theory re-
sPecting which we have this archaeological
CIV idence Of a period In The past history of
the world is OF duration which, In compari-
scE with our human standard, may be re-
gsrded as almost absolutely infinite. Take,
for example. the case OF the cataract OF Nj
agara, where have been recently spending
some time, so that might MI myself with
tTaordinsry natural phenomenon; 10 10
quite easy TO see that the Niagara
river has formed iis own valley, has cut
It's way back through the plateau OF
rock from which IL falls for some six miles.
The re 10 not the slightest difficulty IN see
ing that. The great cliff from which it tum.
oles is formed OF two kinds of rock-hard
rock at The top and soft rock underneath.
The water undermines 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 marvel
ous bluff which, from Proctor's monument,
ov6rlCoks the plain OF Ontario. Now the
rate al which that work is going on has not
yer pee positively ascertained, but we may
De perfectly certain Il am now speaking
largely within limits) that that work OF cut
ting back does not 60 on at the rate OF a
yard in year. We have six miles OF such
cutting, which viii bring you TO period OF
l0COO years for the emitting back OF Niagara
alone. 1t is an immaterial matter 20 me
how many years IL takes, but IL would be
nearer probability, much nearer the truth,
II had said three or four times that amount.
What relations does period of that kind
bear to the vast duration expressed by these
vast lodges OF strata which form the globe?
We are people curious enough TO form a
very distinct calculation OF this. The sides
OF The ravine through which Niagara Is cut
ting Its way are formed by masses OF allu-
vial matter, which must &c older than the
river which has cut through It. While in
that alluvial matter you find the remains of
shell hsh, neutrality-suspicious. from those
which now inhabit tina lake, aud along with
them you hnd-as has been found-the teeth
OF the mastodon, which we know from
abundant evidence was an inhabita OF the
continent of North America at q compare
lively recent period, the very last step of
that long series OF changes, OF which the lime
stone, upon wnich ysu are now standing, In
dicates one of the older ones.
Thus 1t follows that the whole work of
Niagara occupies one period OF this vast du-
ration. In relation TO our duration of time,
that 10000 years, or whatever else IL may
have been, is but an iDfnitesimal fragment
OF time, SO far as the great phenomena OF
the globe are concerned. During that vast
time the population Of the globe has under
gone q slow, constant and gradual cnange,
one species giving way to another. We have
passed by SLOW and gradual methods, with
out vast and sudden changes, into that state
OF things which obtain at present. i need
not say that this view or the past history OF
the globe is a very different one from that
which is commonly taken. 1t is so widely
different that IL is absolutely impossible To
affect any kind OF community, any kind OF
parallel, far less any sort of reconciliation,
between these two. One OF these must be
true. The other is not.