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384 . © Canadian Record of Science. 
of twenty-eight years the water has fluctuated from 18 inches 
above to the same distance below the mean level for that 
period. The relationship between the rainfall and the stage 
of water in this lake, however, is not very apparent. The 
range of the yearly rise and fall is greater in this than in 
any of the other lakes, having been as much as 4 feet in 
1567; the highest water taking place in May and the lowest 
in mid-winter. 
In Lake Erie the mean level from 1859 to 1887 was 2 
feet below the high water of 1838. Although the records 
are not printed to date there is every reason to believe that 
since 1887 the water in this lake has fallen similarly to that 
of Lake Huron, of which we have records. ‘There has a been a 
gradual fall from 1859 to 1872, and a corresponding rise to 
- 1887, but not so marked as in Lake Ontario. The fluc. 
tuations on either side of the mean line have not been so 
great as in Lake Ontario, nor has the yearly range ex- 
ceeded 1} feet, excepting twice. 
For Lakes Huron and Michigan the mean level from 
1859 to 1887 was 2°8 feet below the high water of 1838. 
There was a period of low water from 1864 to 1869; again 
in 1872.73, also in 1879 and. 1880. The water then rose 
steadily to 1886, and has fallen over 3 feet since, or to 15 
feet below the mean level of 1859 to 1889. The average 
yearly fluctuation is about 15 inches. In those two lakes 
-the periods of high water have been neat. by copious 
rainfalls, and vice versa. 
For Lake Superior the mean level fie 1859 to 1887 is 
given as 3 feet below the high water of 1838, and this level 
has been maintained very steadily to the present time. The 
relationship of the lake level to the rainfall is not very evi- 
dent here. The yearly fall and rise is about one foot. 
In all the lakes, excepting Lake Superior, the period 
from 1881 to 1886 was attended by high water, its level 
during the principal summer months having been 1 foot 
higher than the mean from 1859 to 1887. This period was 
sufficiently long for men who had not studied the pre- 
viously recorded movements of the waters to conclude that 
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