New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-09-12
PROF.. HUXLEY ON NLAGARA.
GEOLOGICAL REvHLATIoN MADE BY THE PALIE-
ESTIMATED TINE or THEIR CUTTING BACK
THROUGH SIX MILES or ROCK, 10000 YEARS.

GEOLOGICAL KEvHLATIoN MADE BY THE PNTs-
ESTIMATED TINE OF THEIR CUl1lNG BACK
THROUGH SIX MILES or ROCK, 10000 YEARS.
From PyoL Ifu1iey's Addre's at NGshrdig, sspt T.
| know il is thought very often that men OF
science ale in a.; nDs X G%g q5d dG IRON s6 1hct
careful confederation facts fOrccs upon you ana
more dCtcrmmcdly ao conviction ihGJ the theory 10
snoeig which we have this archaeological evidence Of
pcri0l OF "a past history OF hc.wOr.d H. OF duration
which. n comparison With our human standard, may De
REGARDED as almost absolutely infinite. Take, TOT exam
pie the ease OF the cataract of Niagara, where baye
myseif with the grandeur and beauty o. that extraord
nary natural phenomenon II II quite easy TO sec
that the Niagara River has formed lts own
ase. Of Fsc iom Wien T' falls S' for somc six niles
There not the slightest difficulty IN seeing mat Tue
great cG from Which II tumucs y formed Of two kinds
OF roc-har rock at tn top and soft rock underneath.
The water uudcfmncs the soft rock be!oN' When the
solid stratum above fails over. You the gradual
excavation OC That waller for sax miles from tna marvel!
ous blum which, nom PrJctOrs monument, oycro1S the
pan of Ontario. Now the rate nj which that work is
gong has not yet been p0sugey asceriaied but We
may be perfectly certain Il an now speaking largely
within i,s) that that work Of cutting back does go
on NJ tile rate Of yard in year. We nave SIX IN les Of
such cutting which will bring you to perlod OF 10000
wears for the cutting back Of Niagara alone II Is I'M
ma eral matter how years it takes, but IL
would be probability mach nearer the iruth
had said three or FOUR times that amount
What relations does period Of tiat kind bear To the
vast duration expressed BIS these vast lodges OF strata
which form the globe We arc people Curious enough
TO distinct cacuatiun OF ths Jhe sides %
raVine through which Niagara IL cutting it, way
formed by masses OF alnIyal matter, winch must be
older than the which has cut through ~ While In
tiat auvlH matter you nnd the remains OF smell nsh,
uudistinguishable from those which now inhablt the
lake, and along with them you ind-as has been found
TIE teeth III The mSstOdDB, which we know from abuDh
on: evidence was uuGDnt OF the continent O North
America al comparatively recent PERIOD The very last
step of that long series o. change, OF which the hmr-
stone upOn which you now standing, Indicates OF
the Older
TGus t follows that the whole work Of Niagara
pics one period Of this vast Duration In relation tO
duration of time, tUa 10000 years, wntryct else ~
may BEEN ~ bus an iuBitcsiu1 fragment Of time,
far the great phenomena OF the globe con
cerned During that vast tlIle the population OF the
piObC has undergone slow constant and gradual
change, one species giving way 10 another. We have
PASSED by slow aud gradual methods without vast and
sudden changes, ntO that state OF things which obtain
10 present ] need not say tbat this lew OF the past
history 0f the clOGc Ia very different from that
which IL commonly taken. Ii Widely different chat
it, abs Outely impossible 10 aiict any Kind OF commu
ni.y any KIND parallel far less any sort rcCOncila
0n, between tlese two. One OF these must be true.
The other h not.