Febbuaby 6, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



237 



the American side is now to be supplemented 

 by an equal amount, the constructions for 

 which are well under way. It is espected 

 that about 50,000 horse-power will become 

 available on the Canadian side toward the end 

 of the coming summer, and contracts already 

 signed contemplate a total of not less than 

 110,000 horse-power in units of 10,000 horse- 

 power each, double the first unit, then con- 

 sidered a tremendous experiment. A new 

 company, the Ontario Power Company, on the 

 Canadian side, contemplates a plant to deliver 

 50,000 horse-power at the start and 150,000 

 ultimately. This, like the original corpora- 

 tions on both sides the gorge, is largely 

 backed by capital from the United States. 

 A new company wiU probably be presently 

 authorized by the Canadian government, 

 which wiU presumably, at the start at least, 

 be wholly Canadian. This will mean the 

 further development of 100,000 horse-power. 

 About 350,000 horse-power may thus be ex- 

 pected to be soon supplied, and it is computed 

 that it will result in the influx of about 

 $7,000,000 annually as rental. Within ten 

 years, it is prophesied that a million of horse- 

 power at least wiU be developed at Niagara 

 FaUs. 



Efforts have been made to observe the effect 

 of the present maximum draught of water 

 from the falls; but the most careful measure- 

 ments and observations are reported to have 

 failed in indicating, much less measuring, any 

 effect when the power is turned on and off. 

 The effect of a wind blowing up or down 

 channel is, on the other hand, very observable, 

 and a heavy blow may alter the level of the 

 water at the entrance to the Niagara River 

 and at the head of the rapids by several feet; 

 but its effect at the falls is too slight to be 

 readily observed, except by those who are fa- 

 miliar with the river in all its aspects. 



The horse-power of Niagara is a some- 

 what uncertain quantity, and is variable 

 with every wind and with eveiy change of 

 season. The first survey, made with the 

 object of measurement of the power avail- 

 able at the falls, was, if the writer is not 

 misinformed, that of Mr. L. M. "Wright, a 

 quarter of a century ago, or more, who em- 



ployed the famous ferryboat. Maid of the 

 Mist, driving her stem up under the cataract 

 as closely as the swift current woidd allow, 

 and secui-ing measurements of rate of fiow at 

 that and other cross-sections of the river. He 

 allowed the writer to make extracts from his 

 notes at the time. 



He fovmd the section thirty yards below 

 Chippewa Creek to measure 6,66Y feet across, 

 with a depth of 15 feet. He estimated the 

 minimum power of the total fall as 11,363,636 

 horse-power, and the maximum as a third 

 greater; the variation being due to the ac- 

 tion of the winds on the Great Lakes. These 

 figures are probably too great. A number of 

 estimates have been since published, usually 

 much less. The Lake Survey gave, for ex- 

 ample, as reported, about 280,000 cubic feet, 

 per second, as the flow at the falls; while 

 the pioneer observer gave 500,000. Taking 

 the two as extremes, it is perhaps safe to 

 assert that the extinction of the falls, either 

 by diversion into industrial power or by their 

 cutting back to the upper lake, may be ex- 

 pected to be not likely to prove a burning 

 question with this generation. 



And yet, with a third of a million horse- 

 power already practically preempted, with our 

 forests disappearing, with a corner in the coal 

 market already, and other strikes to come, 

 and with the brink of the falls retreating with 

 accelerated rapidity, it is possibly unwise to 

 bank heavily upon that expectation. But, 

 however this may be, the Falls of Niagara 

 will surrender hundreds of thousands of 

 horse-power in the current decade, and all this 

 power will be distributed electrically and 

 much of it employed in electrical processes 

 of manufacture. K. H. T. 



SCIENTIFIC NOTES AND NEWS. 



The Desmazieres prize of the Paris Acad- 

 emy of Sciences has been awarded to Pro- 

 fessor Roland Thaxter, of Harvard Uni- 

 versity, for his study on the parasitic fungi of 

 American insects. 



The Carnegie Institution has appropriated 

 $4,000 to the Terkes Observatory, to be ex- 

 pended under the direction of Professor George 

 E. Hale, for certain researches in astronomy 



