Washington sentinel., 1853-12-18
General Sntflligente.


scientific persifage infused INTO literature than al
the present moment. There are many who, hav-
ing merely superficial acquaintance with natural
phenomena, rush into the public prints with the
most crude and foolish ideas, in explanation of
| things which require no explanation at all, be-
cause oftheir being well established facts, proved
| and known to all scientific men. Many men ap-
pear TO regard every new theory as the true one
| if il were so, we would have 10 look upon our
selves as living in state of universal doubt and
ialsehood with respect 10 every question OF sci
ence for we have never known single intricate
question yet, on which all men agreed. For ex-
ample correspondent of the Washington UntOn
thinks that all the almanacs, scientific and naut-
cal books based on the theory of lunar oceanic in
fuence, are constructed upon mere fcllim and
gives the following as has theory OF tides:
"The passage of the tides through the ocean is
produced, in our opinion, by the filing up and
emptying of certain corresponding cavities in the
hidden surface ofthe globe. When these internal
caverns are full of water the tides are low on the
surrounding shores of the earth. When they are
empty, the water flows out into the oceans, and
the tides rise. This plain proposition is suscept-
BILE, we apprehend, of complete demonstration
He does not present any demonstration, how
ever, excepting the following piece Of balderdash:
"We trust Lieut.. Maury will demonstrate, by all
the lights of advancing civilization, why is il that
the tides of the ocean rise and fall the most where
the outer surface of the earth (and undoubtedly
its inner surface also) is the most broken, where
the volcanic fires have been the most violent
~ n II is to be shown we apprehend,
that the waters of the American lakes do not rise
| and fall, because of the even, confined or close
natures of the basins of earth which contain them,
Whereas, if they were operated upon as some
contend, by the moon, they ought to rise and fall
at least as much as the Mediterranean, sea no
larger, no broader, no deeper than some Of them"
We have also seen another theory advanced for
the tides. namely that Of electrical influence; but
il is equally as destitute Of proof and demonstra
ton as the above. logician can detect at once
an error in the above theory, viz: in attrbuting
the tides 10 the emptying and filing Of the cavities
on the earth's surface that being the very thing
that requires explanation itself; this phenomena
is not the cause; it is the effect Of the tides
The Mediterranean contains great deal more
water than all our lakes put together, and yet in
the bay of Naples, that place where volcanic fires
have been most violent, and where, according to
the above theory, tides should rise TO enormous
height they only rise about twelve inches, and ex-
cept in the narrowest straits OF the Mditerranean,
they are not perceptible. What reader Of history
can forget the awe of Alexander the Greats
Greek soldiers from the Mediterranean, when they
first saw the waters of the great ocean in India
ebb and flow like the breathing OF giant. In the
Baltic and Black seas the tides are very small,
while at Annapolis, in the bay Of Fundy, near the
ocean, the tide rises TO 100 feet. The tides can
only be explained upon the principle of gravity;
the attraction Of the moon and SUM- On our coasts
the tides return later and later each day by 504
minutes, according to the moons position and her
rate Of sailing round our planet
There is perfect agreement between the
moons motion and that of the sea, for the tides
though constant, are not always equal in
place, but are greatest when the moon is in con-
junction, or opposition to the sun al the time Of
new and full moon, and least when in quadrature
10 il. This increase and dimnution Of the wa
tiers is regular and constitute the spring and neap
tides.
When we know that sensible variation OF the
tides is produced by the relative position of the
moon TO various parts Of our planet and that with
unfaltering regularity, we must condemn every
man who advances another theory, as a shallow
egotist, unless he produces proof Of some other
agency causing these effects, and showing the de-
ception which the moon has so long practised
upon our senses.-Sc'enfyfe American.
incidents. of Battle.--Some English guards
men who were in the battle of Waterloo, related
TO Hayden, the painter, the following anecdotes of
the thickest of the fight. They present war in all
its horrors
The description of the men was simple, charac-
teristic, and poetical They said when the life
guards and cuirassiers met, il was like the ringing
Of ten thousand blacksmiths anvils One of them
knew my models, Shaw and Dakin. He saw Da-
kin, while fighting on foot with two curassiers,
also on foot, divide both their heads with cuts five
and six. He said Dakin rode out, foaming at the
mouth, and cheered on his troops. In the even
| ing he saw Dakin lying dead, cut in pieces. Da-
kin sat TO me for the sleeping groom on his knees,
| in Macbeth.
| Another saw Shaw fighting with two cnrassiers
| at time. Shaw, he said, always cleared his pas
sage. He saw him take eagle, but lost IT after
| wards; as, when any man got an eagle, all the
troops near him, both sides, left of lighting, and
| set on him who had the eagle. He went on him
self very WELL but, riding TOO far, was speared by
| a lancer, and tainted away. Recovering. he sat
upright, when three or four ancers saw him, rode
al him, and speared him till they thought him dead.
He remembered nothing till revived by the shak-
| ing as they carried him 10 the yard Of La Haye
Sainte. There he heard some one groaning, and
| turning round saw Shaw, who said: 81 am dying; /;
| my side is torn ofiby she'll" His comrades told
| us how he had swooned away, and being revived
by their taking him up to be carried TO Brussels at
| daybreak he saw poor Shaw dead, with his cheek
/ in his hand.
| Corporal Webster, of the second life guards,
saw Shaw give his first cut. As he was getting
down the rising ground in the hollow road, a
cuirassier waited and gave point at his belly.
Shaw parried the thrust and before the French
man recovered, cut him right through his brass
helmet 10 the chin and his face fell of him like
a biSof apple"
Another, Hodgson, "a model and the finest Of
all, standing six feet four inches, perfect Achil
lesJ charged up TO the French baggage. He saw
artillery driver-boys of sixteen crying on their
horses. In coming back, whole French regi-
ment opened, and let him pass at full gallop, then
closed and gave him volley, and never hit him
or horse.
Ihe hfst man VINO stopped MN was an IRISH
| man in the French service. He dashed at him,
and said, aD--n you, I'll stop your growing
Hodgson said he was frightened. as he had never
| fought anybody with swords. Watching the cui-
rassier, however, he found he could not move his
horse so quickly he could; 50, letting go the
reins, and guiding his horse with his knees, the
curassier gave point at his throat, Hodgsoi cut
his sword hand of, and dashed his sabre through
his throat cutting il round and round. The first cut
he gave him was on the cuirass, which ne thought
4 was silver lace. The shock nearly broke his arm.
laD-n me, sir" he added, "now had found out
the way, soon gave il them" As Hodgson rode
back, after being fred at, an officer encountered
him. Hodgson cut his horse OF the maps, and, as
il dropped dead, the officers helmet rolled of, and
Hodgson saw bald head and white hairs. The
officer begged for mercy, but at that instant troop
of lancers was approaching at the gallop so Hodg-
son cleaved his head in Two at blow, and es.
capped. The recollection fthe white hairs, he told
us, panied him often. Before he got back TO the
British lines lancer officer charged him, and,
missing his thrust, came right on Hodgson and his
horse. Hodgson got clear, and cut his head of al
the neck, at one blow, and the head dropped on his
Il havresack. where he kent fha hlood-stain