Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-05-21
THE INTELLIGENCER.
LFOr the Wheeling Intelligencer.l
The Oceanic Tides-Their Cnusc.
fCONTINUED.1

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two temperate and Frigid zones of the earth:
what becomes of this prodigious mass of soli-
he'd water and vapor? On the return of Spring
and Summer it melts under the influence of the
sun and flows into the Sea. We are familiar
with the effects of these combined causes when.
on the breaking up of n severe winter, after the
accumulation of much snow and ice in our
mountains, the rivers and smaller streams be-
come filled with water and even overflow their
banks often to prOdigiOuS and alarming extent;
we see and know that these floods arc caused
by the sudden melting Of the vast area of snow
on which the rain and sun of sp;ing arc opera.
ting; why is it we overlook the operation of the
same causes on the amazing mass of congealed
water accumulated northward and southward,
eastward and westward, in every direction from
the pOleS to distance of 5000 miles? And OBJ
serve that tho at the circumference of these
cuPolas of snow and ice, their thickness may hc
but few lines, yet it continually increases until
at either pole they are found to be many hun.
dred feet in thickness. Imagine then, what
must be the effect upon the waters of the ocean,
Of the sudden influx of so vast body of water
during the SpIlng and Summer of each Polar
Region!
We have made apparent now, cause of
the Tides, of the larger Seas, viz: the etfusion
Of the snow and ice of the regions north and
south of the outer limit Of the torrid zones, and
so amazing is the quantity Of water thus carri-
cd into the North Atlantic, for instance that
I-iIIS, dll CO'lltl lIlc
of the water at Wagers Strait, in latitude G5
degs 81 mn, to nothing better than the sluicc
Of mill; he found, also, that the current pro-
cccded from the north, and that the surt;,ce Of
The aoaters aoas rery tresh which observations
were confirmed by LinschOten Dutch navi,
gator. Tremendous currents have been oh
served during the spring and Summer months,
flowing in every direction from the poles, thus
proving that their source in the hquc-
faction of the SHOWS and ices of the pole
if reflect that the quantity Of water thus
hourly shot into the Atlantic and other Oceans,
from these eXhauStcsS s0!iditicd (hut now
tiuenD reservoirs, amounts to incalculabc my
riadS Of tons daily, but in varying amounts at
the various seasons of the day and the year,
and that the same phenomena occur Mt opposite
seasons from the two opposite poles, we shall
be prepared to admit that our philosophers have
shown themselves learnedly foolish i'll going to
the sun and moon to account for phenomena
whose causes Law at their very feet We shall
be prepared to admit that there must be set up
amazing currents in the ocean, which we shall
always be puzzled to account for on any other
hypothesis than the one now stated. And,
lastly, from the criStence of these currents we
shall be prepared to admit the origin and exist
ence of the Oceanic Tides There arc currents
and there titles, and these must not be con-
founded. Oceanic currents are the primary,
but not the sole causes of tides: currents are
primary and direct; Tides are secondary and
derived; were there no currents there would be
no tides, let the and moon pull as they
might! The first effect of the Polar ctfuSi0ns
is to cause strong current of cold water into
the warm water of the oceans under the Equa-
tor; the second effect is repulsion Of that water
towards the shores of those countries washed by
those oceans; the cause and the effect me-
chanical; and this second effect is what is term
ed tie Tide. The tidal waters again, in their
turn, become agents, and react upon the prl-
mary polar currents; and thus the action and
| for
with most perfect regularity of motion for the
reason that the primary cause never ceases in
its operation, for, though during the winter
months of the northern hemisphere the polar
cfusions there cease, by reason of the intensity
of the frost; yet, at the South pole, at that time,
summer reigns in all its strength, and produces
the very same phenomena that were exhibited
at the opposite pole during the previous six
months OF the year.
AS regards the Tides themselves, they are
greatest and highest-Firstly, on those shores
lying most directly in the line of the Polar
Currents, aud secondly, at those points where
the main current meets the return or counter
current; hence, at the Urkneys, for instance,
the main or polar current flowing from the
Northwest, meets the return or counter current
from the Southeast, the result of which is tide
that lashes the \. aters of the Ocean there into
an enormous mass Of foam, and daShcs the
spray from the contendinG waves far into the
air. The same phenomenon occurs in the
channel ofthc Bahamas, and from similar causes.
II will now appear evident that the primary
cause Of the Tides being what it is claimed to be,
and the known tendency of water and fluids to
seek state of equilibrium, the inevitable effects
must be such as those presented by the larger
Oceans, and that, though the attraction of the
sun and moon mag have some effect in Prodnc-
ing, or rather augmentinS the tidal phenomena,
yet, at the same time, all those phenomena are
more satisfactorily explained on the theory now
propounded than on that which has hitherto
found favor among the advocates of the attraction
theory: For, if VIC say that Solar and Luna
attraction are the cause of the oceanic tides.
then, on the principle that like causes pro
duce like effects must assert that every
ocean and sea has its tides, which is not the
TRUTH but this latter difficulty is at once over
come by the knowledge of the fact that in every
instance in which presents no tides, that
sea has no Polar inlet any lateral commumi-
cation with the Polar Currents! How absurd
the idea that such or such has no tides
because it is t00 small to be operated on by the
attractive power of the sun or moon! and yet,
to such an amphibology arc they driven who
contend that the tides are and can he only