upper stratum back towards the main fall.

See Mt. Bakewell, Jr., on the falls of Niagara, London Maga zine, 1830.

There is no doubt but the falls of Niagara were once at Queenstown, as above stated and have gradually cut their way through the rock to their present situation.

Mr. Lyell, who refers all the changes which have taken place on the earth's surface to “ causes now in opera

little

tion," states that the recession of the falls have been at the rate of fifty yards in forty years, and therefore a more than three feet on an average in each

year.

If the ratio of recession says he, "had never exceeded fifty yards in forty years, it must have required nearly ten thousand years for the excavation of the whole ravine; but no probable conjecture can be offered as to the quantity of time consumed in such an operation, because the retrograde movement may have been much more rapid when the whole current was confined within a space not exceeding a fourth, or a fifth part of that which the falls now occupy. Should the erosive action not be accelerated in future, it will take upwards of thirty thousand years for the falls to reach lake Erie (twenty-five miles distant) to which they seem destined to arrive in the course of time, unless some earthquake changes the relative levels of the districts. The table land extending from lake Erie, consists uniformly of the same geological formations as are now exposed at the falls. The upper stratum is an ancient alluvial sand, varying in thickness from 10 to 140 feet; below which is a bed of hard limestone about 90 feet in thickness, stretching nearly in a horizontal direction over the whole country, and forming the bed of the river above the falls, as do the inferior shales below. The lower shale is nearly of the same thickness of the limestone."

Should lake Erie remain in its present state until the period when the ravine recedes to its shores, the sudden escape of that great body of water would cause a tremendous deluge, for the ravine would be more than sufficient [in depth we suppose,] to drain the whole lake, of which the average depth was found, during the late surveys, to be ten or twelve fathoms."-Lyell's Geology, vol. 1, page 179-182.

Such is the tenor of Mr. Lyell's reasoning when attempting to "explain the former changes of the earth'

surface by reference to causes now in operation," and thus to deny the Mosaic history of the creation, and of the deluge.

Although he owns that no probable conjecture can be afforded with respect to the time which has elapsed since the falls of Niagara were at Queenstown, still, it is obvious that the impression intended to be left on the mind of the reader is, that it was about 10,000 years ago; that is, about 4,000 years before the creation of the world, according to Moses, these falls were at Queenstown. And at some future period, say 30,000 years hence, there will be a great flood in America, just as there have happened great floods at different periods according to what he calls the "uniformity of the order of nature.'

Now let us see, in the first place, whether the data stated by the author, can possibly warrant the supposition that the falls of Niagara have been 10,000 years, or even half that time, in passing from Queenstown to their present location.

Mr. Lyell, who quotes Capt. Basil Hall for his authority, makes the falls 800 yards wide at the verge of the precipice; viz. the American fall 200 yards, and the Horse-shoe fall 600 yards wide. The channel below the falls towards Queenstown, according to the same authority, is 160 yards wide. Mr. Featherstonhaugh, (Monthly American Journal, No. 1,) we have already seen, makes all these widths more considerable. But we will take Mr. Lyell's own

account.

The old channel being 160 yards wide, is exactly one fifth the width of the present falls. Now supposing the retrograde movement of the cataract had been in proportion to its width, then according to Mr. Lyell's estimate it could have been only 2000 years in travelling from Queenstown to its present place; for 160 being a fifth of 800, and allowing the present movement to be at the rate of 7 miles in 10,000 years, then, being only a fifth as wide, anciently as now, there is reason to believe that it moved at least five times as fast. But reasoning from the data before us the time must have been even less than 2,000 years, for it is plain that a given quantity of water, say a yard in breadth, would perform the work of excavation more than five times as rapidly as it would if spread over five yards in breadth. It is however but fair to state that the falls at Queenstown were not so high as they are at

present, and therefore, estimating the quantity of water the same as at present, the movement must have been slower than now. For, we know that the denudating, or excavating power of water, bears not only a proportion to its depth and rapidity, but also to the heighth from which it falls, so that cataracts of little elevation produce no perceptible effects for centuries, while, if the same quantity of water were precipitated from a height of several hundred feet, the whole precipice would gradually retrograde up the stream. Allowing, therefore, that the falls moved only at half the rate above estimated, this would fix the time at 4000 years since they were at Queenstown.

Now, without giving any opinion as to the real epoch, when this cataract was at Queenstown, for there are no grounds on which such an opinion ought to be formed; still we must be permitted to say, that according to the data Mr.Lyell has given us, it is quite plain that the cataract of Niagara could not have been more than 3 or 4000 years in moving from Queenstown to its present place, instead of 10,000 years, which impression, if any, he

conveys.

American Deluge. With respect to the deluge which Mr. Lyell predicts will happen about 30,000 years hence in North America, we will state the grounds on which his profoundly scientific vision presages a catastrophe so awful to this devoted country.

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"It was," says he "contrary to analogy to suppose that nature had been at any former epoch, parsimonious of time, and prodigal of violence, to imagine that one district was not at rest while another was convulsed-that the disturbing forces were not kept under subjection, so as never to carry simultaneous desolation over the whole earth, or even over one great region." "In speculating on catastrophes by water, we may certainly expect great floods in future, and we therefore presume that they have happened again and again in past times. The existence of enormous seas of fresh water, such as the North American lakes, the largest of which is elevated more than 600 feet above the level of the ocean, and is in part 1200 feet deep, is alone sufficient to assure us, that the time will come, however distant, when a deluge will lay waste a considerable part of the American continent. No hypothetical agency is required to cause the sudden escape of

the confined waters. Such changes of level and opening of fissures, as have accompanied earthquakes since the commencement of the present century, or such excavations of ravines as the receding cataract of Niagara is now effecting, might break the barriers. Notwithstanding, therefore, that we have not witnessed within the last 3000 years the devastation by deluge of a large continent, yet as we may predict the future occurrence of such catastrophes, we are authorized to regard them as part of the present order of nature, and they may be introduced into geological speculations respecting the past, provided we do not imagine them to have been more frequent, or general than we expect them to be in time to come.”—Principles of Geology, vol. 1, p. 88.

It is on such grounds that one of the most voluminous and learned among the recent English geologists disputes the Mosaic history of the deluge; and we have introduced the above extract to show, that even men of argument on other subjects, often reason in the most ridiculous manner, and on grounds totally false, when they undertake to deny the truth of the Holy Scriptures.

Mr. Lyell's argument runs thus. "Because there are great lakes in North America situated 600 feet above the sea, and because the cataract of Niagara is receding towards these lakes at the rate of fifty yards in forty years; therefore we may anticipate great floods in future, and we therefore presume that they have happened again and again in past times." Consequently we must presume that all the changes the earth has undergone by water, have been produced by such catastrophes, and therefore Noah's flood never happened, and so the Mosaic history is not to be believed.

It is plain that Mr. Lyell's zeal to show that there has been no universal deluge, made him forget, that in another part of his volume he states that the quantity of sediment which is every year deposited in lake Erie is such, that it will finally be filled up and become dry land, and as he does not expect the cataract of Niagara will drain this lake until the end of 30,000 years, we may hope that it will become solid within that period.

But independently of this oversight, no person of the least reflection, whether geologist or not, would for a moment believe that a lake, formed like a dish, and surrounded on all sides by solid limestone rocks 90 feet thick, as

Erie is, could be drained to its bottom in a few hours by the action of its own waters. Suppose the cataract of Niagara now at the outlet of lake Erie and moving into it at the rate of 50 yards in 40 years, or a little more than a yard per year, we would inquire of Mr. Lyell how long a period would be consumed in draining it to the bottom, and whether the escape of its waters thus sudden “would cause a tremendous deluge," as he asserts.

The title of Mr. Lyell's book being, “An attempt to explain the former changes of the Earth's surface, by reference to causes now in operation," is itself an attack on the sacred Scriptures, but we are happy to believe that Christianity is in little danger from his arguments.

Mountain Slides. Instances have happened in various parts of the world, where considerable changes have been produced in the surface of the globe, by the sliding of large portions of earth, together with fragments of rocks, from the declivities of mountains. These changes are readily distinguished from those occasioned by the general deluge, not only by their local and more recent appearance, but also by the direction in which these precipitated rocks remain with respect to the range of the mountain from which they have fallen. For the great currents of the deluge left their effect in lines corresponding with the ranges of most of the high mountains and considerable valleys, where they are still to be seen; whereas occasional slides leave their effects at the feet of the mountains, in piles, or downward ranges.

Slide of the White Mountains. The White Mountains are situated in New Hampshire, and are the highest land in New-England. The slide to be described took place in August, 1826, and was in consequence of the fall of an immense quantity of rain on the mountain.

On both sides of the river Saco, innumerable rocks and stone, many of them of sufficient size to fill a common apartment, were detached, and in their descent swept down before them in one promiscuous and frightful ruin, forest shrubs, and the earth in which they grew. No tradition

existed of any similar catastrophe at former times, and the growth of the forests on the flanks of the mountain clearly proved, that at least for a long interval, nothing similar had occurred. One of these moving masses was afer