[12 The American Geologist. February, isits 
the course of the ancient drainage could not be traced be- 
yond the meridian of Oswego. The writer also objected to 
the theory of the glacial excavation of the basins on account 
of the stream-like sculpturing of the land, and the sub-lacus- 
trine escarpments; and on account of the glaciation of the re- 
gion being everywhere at sharp angles to the escarpments, 
whether above or below the surface of the lakes. These views 
and the discovery of the outlet for the ancient Erie basin con- 
firmed the teachings of Prof. J. P. Lesley, who, from being a 
progenitor of the science of topography became the father of 
geomorphy, of which the lake history is one of the phases, 
in speaking of the origin of the lake valleys, Prof. Lesley* 
says: "For a number of years, I have been urging upon 
geologists, especially those addicted to the glacial hypothesis 
of erosion, the strict analogy existing between the submerged 
valleys of lakes Michigan, Huron and Erie, and the whole 
series of dry Appalachian 'valleys of VIIT, stretching from - 
the Hudson river to Alabama ; also of Green bay, lake On- 
tario and lake Champlain, with all the 'valleys of H. and HL' 
One single law of topography governs the erosion of them all. 
without exception, whether at present traversed by small 
streams or great rivers, or occupied by sheets of water; the 
only agency or method of erosion common to them all being 
that of rainwater; not in the form of a great river, because 
many of them neither are nor ever have been great water- 
ways." 
Notwithstanding the short-comings, and what are now 
known to be errors of detail, the paper on the pre-glacial out- 
let of Erie attracted considerable attention as a new depart- 
ure; and at the time Prof. James Geikie, who is well known 
to -be one of the leading glacialists, expressed himself as fol- 
lows, under date June 21, 1881: "I have always had misgiv- 
ings as to glacial erosion of the great lakes, "•' * * and 
now your most interesting paper comes to throw additional 
doubt upon the theory in question. Possibly those who have 
upheld that view will now give in. Your facts seem, to me at 
least, very convincing. I never could understand how those 
great lakes of yours could have been ground out by ice. The 
^Report Q4 of the Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. 1881, pp. 
399-406. 
