NIAGARA AS A TIMEPIECE. ig 



shows that the end of the Glacial period in the lake region was 

 long ago. 



How Niagara Falls may be used to ascertain the An- 

 tiquity OF Man. — The relation of Niagara Falls to the deserted 

 shores of the lake region and the high terraces is now pretty- 

 well known, and the old water margins have been traced over 

 wide areas ; but these may be much further extended and their re- 

 lations to other regions beyond the drainage basins of the Great 

 Lakes be ascertained, so that we may hope that Niagara Falls may 

 be used as a means of at least roughly estimating the age of the 

 deserted river banks on which the oldest inhabitants left their 

 scanty treasures long ago. Concerning this application, it seems 

 as only a question of the work of so many men and so much time. 



To the geologist, the birth, life, and death of Niagara Falls 

 show no more rapid changes than come within the limit of modern 

 observations. There have been no sensational catastrophes, al- 

 though in the popular mind these changes come with new and 

 startling revelations, so that the most conservative observer may 

 be surprised. The changes in the history of Niagara have now 

 been told, so far as we know them. We can still watch the river 

 performing its wonderful amount of work and the slow recession 

 of the falls, as shown in Fig. 17. 



If the reader of this sketch of the history of Niagara Falls de- 

 sires the fuller information upon which this study is based, he is 

 referred to Duration of Niagara Falls and the History of the Great 

 Lakes, by the present writer, whose labors have been brought to- 

 gether by the Commissioners of Niagara Falls Reservation, un- 

 der the presidency of the Hon. Andrew H. Green, whose liberal 

 policy is not merely to preserve the falls as an international park, 

 but to make known their scientific history. 



In the ascension of the balloon Phenix, made from Stassfurt, Prussia, 

 in December, 1894, the weather being- misty at starting, the temperature at 

 first increased up to a considerable heig^ht, but afterward fell, and at 32,150 

 feet stood at —20° C At about 29,500 feet the balloon passed through a 

 veil-like stratum of cirrus clouds, consisting- of perfectly formed flakes of 

 snow. At 31,500 feet the thermometer dropped to —54°, and indicated only 

 — 11° in the sun's rays. The highest temperature recoi'ded was 43°. Dur- 

 ing the ascent of three hours and the descent of two hours and twenty 

 minutes the balloon traveled one hundred and eighty-six miles, although 

 it was almost calm at the surface. 



Observing the growth of bamboos in the Botanical Garden of Buiten- 

 zorg, Java, Mr. Gregory Kraus noticed one plant which added to its length 

 229 centimetres a day for fift^'-eight days. Another plant grew 19'9 cen- 

 timetres, and a third nineteen centimetres a day for sixty days. The longest 

 single day's growth observed was 42 '45 centimetres. 



