36 PROCEEDINGS OF THE PRINCETON MEETING 



region was also briefly considered. In the concluding part of the paper some 

 remarks were made on the bearing of the Niagara time estimates on the 

 duration of the Wisconsin Glacial epoch and on the date of its maximum. 



Presented in full without notes. 



Discussion 



Dr. J. W. Spencer : My friend, Mr. Taylor, has given a good account of the 

 glacial and beach phenomena, but he adopts as the coefficient of recession of 

 Niagara Falls the exaggerated rate of the concentrated flow, 750 feet wide, 

 as that of the mean rate, making the gorge 1,200 feet wide. He discredits 

 James Hall's survey of the American Falls on the strength of pictures by 

 Basil Hall (1897), which, in comparison with Gilbert's pictures (1805), would 

 indicate an advance of the falls in place of retreat, if B. Ilall's pictures were 

 correct. Mr. Taylor makes the width of the Whirlpool Saint David's gorge 

 increase to some 4,000 feet, although the rocks found prove it to be only about 

 2,000 feet. He also says my borings were stopped (269 feet) by boulders, 

 although my printed statement says quicksand. He discredits wood and 

 deoxidized soil as evidence of an iuterglacial epoch. Using his figures, the 

 interglacial eiwch recognized by him could have lasted only from 1.200 to 2,400 

 years, and the end of the Ice Age dated 4.500 years ago. While using my other 

 soundings. Mr, Taylor denies the validity of those under the falls, although 

 otherwise confirmed. Mr. Taylor also denies the value of the borings at the 

 Whirlpool Rapids showing their character. He ignores the intermittent lower- 

 ing of the later level, although he knows of the Roy Terrace. 



Applying the differential height and volume of the falls (according to Mr. 

 Taylor's historj' of the gorge) to the work performed, the results establish a 

 new arithmetic. 



3x1 = 30, 3 X 1 = 12, 5 X 1 = 1» 15 X 1 = 5. 



Newton and Leibnitz independently invented the differential calculus, but 

 this new form of mathematics surpasses their great work. Having recalcu- 

 lated the differential work of the falls, I find the figures varying so little from 

 39,000 years that even my allowance of 4,000 years either way is not reduced 

 in the figures. 



Prof. A. P. Coleman : An estimate of the age of Lake Ontario, made from 

 the recession of Scarboro Heights, gives from 8,000 to 9,000 years. Probably 

 the whole length of time since Niagara began was three times as long — that is, 

 24,(X)0 to 27,000 years. This corroborates Mr. Taylor's results. 



Prof. H. F. Reid : The glaciers, as we now know them, are apt to advance 

 more rapidly than they retreat, and the rate of retreat is apt to increase as 

 the retreat progi-esses. Perhaps this should be taken into consideration in 

 estimating the time between certain positions of the ice end. 



Mr. Taylor replied, defending his estimates of time. 



