NIAGARA. 183 



over the ledge, while the Terrapin Tower loomed fitfully 

 through the intermittent spray-gusts. We were right 

 under the tower. A little farther on the cataract, after 

 its first plunge, hit a protuberance some way down, 

 and flew from it in a prodigious burst of spray ; through 

 this we staggered. We rounded the promontory on 

 which the Terrapin Tower stands, and moved, amid 

 the wildest commotion, along the arm of the Horse- 

 shoe, until the boulders failed us, and the cataract fell 

 into the profound gorge of the Niagara Eiver. 



Here the guide sheltered me again, and desired me 

 to look up; I did so, and could see, as before, the 

 green gleam of the mighty curve sweeping over the 

 upper ledge, and the fitful plunge of the water, as 

 the spray between us and it alternately gathered and 

 disappeared. An eminent friend of mine often speaks 

 of the mistake of those physicians who regard man's 

 ailments as purely chemical, to be met by chemical 

 remedies only. He contends for the psychological 

 element of cure. By agreeable emotions, he says, 

 nervous currents are liberated which stimulate blood, 

 brain, and viscera. The influence rained from ladies' 

 eyes enables my friend to thrive on dishes which would 

 kill him if eaten alone. A sanative effect of the same 

 order I experienced amid the spray and thunder of 

 Niagara. Quickened by the emotions there aroused, 

 the blood sped exultingly through the arteries, abolish- 

 ing introspection, clearing the heart of all bitterness, 

 and enabling one to think with tolerance, if not with 

 tenderness, on the most relentless and unreasonable foe. 

 Apart from its scientific value, and purely as a moral 

 agent, the play was worth the candle. My companion 

 knew no more of me than that I enjoyed the wildness 

 of the scene ; but as I bent in the shelter of his large 

 frame he said, * I should like to see you attempting to 

 IB 



