Science, Geology and Physics 



here than from any other spot; while the rest of the great cataract 1834 

 has, from this point, the character of the terrific. None of the 

 three falls tumble; they leap: and from Table Rock you may 

 see the long leap which the waters make, down to where the 

 horror of an eternal mist covers the still more horrific depth. The 

 terror of Niagara from here is like the fury of a lion, who leaps 

 with grace upon his prey. 



Yet, as if placed here to comfort man, and to show him that, 

 though nature may seem for a moment to move in rebellious law- 

 lessness, and to have broken from its fixed lines, yet every atom 

 carries its eternal law along with it, and cannot move out of its 

 character, — floats over all this roar and riot of the elements a 

 consoling rainbow formed of the very water which but a moment 

 before carried destruction in its heedless hurry, — to remind you 

 that there is order in nature where you perceive but wild dis- 

 order, and that fearful struggle or loathsome dissolution returns 

 to the beauty which graces the universe, — that " the spirit of 

 God moveth upon the face of the waters." 



The lunar bow is equally beautiful ; I saw it one night, tinged 

 with a slight hue of its brighter mate, to whom the sun lends his 

 splendour. It looked like a rainbow, pale from grief; and as it 

 rested over the foaming waters of Niagara — truly like " Love 

 watching madness with unalterable mien." This madness of the 

 waters is found, however, only in the gulf below; v/here the 

 boiling, and gushing, and leaping element, as if fury had changed 

 its nature, wrestles with the firm rocks and conquers them in the 

 long struggle. 



• • • • • 



There is, strong as it may sound to you, a character of 

 majestic steadiness in the Niagara Falls. Those gigantic masses 

 preserve their compact form, throughout one half of their entire 

 fall, and as they roll over the precipice, and descend to midway, 

 almost unchanged, present such an unbroken front, that the 



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