Researches rrlati/ig to the Great Lakes. — SpenccK 1 1 1 
had been pre-determined by river action. Adopting the 
teachings of Agassiz and Newberry, and going much farther, 
an influential school was developed which attributed the su- 
jjerficial features of the northern regions almost entirely to 
the action of continental ice, — in spite of the teachings of Les- 
ley, Dawson, Whitney and others. The extreme views, as 
represented by Dr. G. J. Hinde," made the ice plough dig 
out the St. David's, Dundas, and other valleys, irrespective of 
their direction, as compared with that of the ice flow. Such 
speculations were most common at the close of- the eighth de- 
cade of the century, when the writer commenced his studies 
upon lacustrine history — concerning which his first paper was 
on the "Discovery of the Outlet of the Basin of Lake Erie. 
ctc.,f (1881). The appearance of this "avant courier," was 
due to the enthusiastic reception given by Prof. J. P. Lesley 
to the writer's discovery of the reduction of rocky barriers 
beneath the superficial drift, between lake Erie and the Dun- 
das valley, at the head of lake Ontario, indicating an outlet 
for the Erie basin by a channel, the lower end of which is 
deeply buried by drift deposits. Prof. Lesley pointed out 
that this discovery satisfied the necessity for some such outlet 
to the Erie basin, -as Hunt and Newberry had found buried 
channels beneath the lake, and Mr. J. F. Carll had discovered 
that the drainage of the Upper Allegheny, and other streams, 
had been reversed, having flowed northward into the Erie 
basin in pre-glacial days. 
The writer's paper xeferred to not only described the out- 
let of the Erie basin, but also showed that the Niagara river 
was not needed in ancient times. Shortly afterwards this 
idea was confirmed by Dr. Julius Pohlman J who found that 
the Niagara channel was not sufficiently deep for the drainage 
■of the buried valleys in the vicinity of Buffalo. 
In the same paper, the valley-like features beneath thc 
lake waters were analvsed and established. But at that time 
*Glacial and Interglacial strata of .Scarboro Heights, etc. Canadian 
Journal, April, 1877, p. 24. 
t Discovery of the Preglacial Outlet of the Basin of Lake Erie into 
that of Lake Ontario; with notes on the Origin of our Lower Great 
Lakes. By J. W. Spencer; Proc. .'\mer. Phil. Soc, XIX, 198, 2n., 
-March 30, 1881, pp. 300-337. 
tThe Life-history of Niagara. ]5y Julius Pohlman. Trans. Am. 
Jnst. Min. Eng. 
