Science, Geology and Physics 



In the winter of 1797-8, the great thaw, and consequent 1796 

 floods, loosened great masses, which confined the course of the oney 

 water. If the European colonists or travellers, to whom this 

 region has been accessible for a century and a half, had made 

 careful memorandums, from time to time, of the state of the fall, 

 we should, by this time, have been able to trace the progress of 

 those revolutions, which are easily proved to have taken place, 

 by vestiges and indications which present themselves at every 

 step. 



1804 



Barton, Benjamin Smith. Description of the Falls of Niagara. 1804 

 (Phila. med. and phy. jour. Phila.: J. Conrad and Co. 1804. Bar,on 

 !:pt 1, P p. 39-47.) 



This account of the Falls, written in 1 798, describes the formation 

 of the Falls, the rapids and the vapors arising from the Falls, the sound, 

 the dimensions and the scenery. The idea of the recession of the Falls 

 is rejected with the statement that the " notion is extravagant," but the 

 reasons advanced for this opinion seem feeble in the light of recent 

 geological opinions. The author testifies to the popularity of the Falls 

 in his time — " Many travellers of the first respectability from the United 

 States and Europe have visited them this season." 



1805 



ROBERTSON, Felix. Additional observations on the Falls of Niagara. 1805 

 (In Phila. med. and phy. jour. Vol. I, pt. II, pp. 61-68.) Robertson 



In a letter, dated February 9, 1805, to the editor of the Philadelphia 

 Medical and Physical Journal, Mr. Robertson gives a very clear and 

 straightforward presentation of the essentials dealing with the original 

 position of the Falls, a subject which had been previously discussed in 

 that periodical. 



SUTCLIFF, ROBERT. Travels in some parts of North America in the 1805 

 years 1804, 1805, & 1806. Phila.: B. & T. Kite. 1812. Pp. Sutdiff 

 149-155. 



A very brief but illuminating view of the life of the people and the 

 state of the country about the Falls. Figures on the height and width 

 of the Falls are given, and the volume estimated at 3,000,000 tons. Some 

 hearsay reports are given as to the distance — forty or fifty miles — at 



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