Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, Va. [W. Va.]) 1852-1859, 1859-05-20
THE INTELLIGENCER.
lFor the Wheeling Intelligencer.l
The Oceanic Tiden-The5r Cnnsc


!aconlc and practical mode of solving the pro.
olem OF "how to make an egg stand on its end Z"
adopted by the celebrated voyager Columbus,
The Swans assembled around him puzzled their
brains over it in vain, their eggs tooulla't stand:
they talked wisely" no doubt on the subject
but could come to no solution of the difficulty:
the practical oil Navigator, however enlie hten-
ed them at once. How simple! What simple
tons not to have seen this at glance as soon as
propounded Yet, it is not often thus with our
philosophers When they should 20 East they
travel West; when the explanation of phe-
nomenon Is in or on the earth, they soar away
into space! Not that they are heavenly mind
ed, poor souls, for the most part they ignore all
things and phenomena that they cannot either
see, touch or taste, or that they cannot estimate
the nature, properties value of by n mathc.
matical formula And has it not been thus in
their cndeavors to solve the cause of the Tides ?
The Sun, Moon and Stars in their attractive
properties forSoOth, must be levied on by our
soaring, grasping savans and, nolens volcns,
they are made the causes of the Oceanic tides;
which theory was pompously propounded, and
is pertinaceously adhered to in the very teeth of
the notorious, (and to this theory damning fact
that inland seas, and lakes as large as seas, have
no tides! "Like causes, produce like effects" !"
If the attraction of the sun and moon cause the
phenomena of the Tides in ocean and sea,
then obviously they should do so in eccrv sea or
ocean. The mere position of body Of water
in which no tides occur, cannot obvate so
amazing force as this attractive power is as.
sumed to be. The concession that "thc excep-
ton proves the rule" will be of no avail here;
| besides, an exception to rule PrOces only that
the rule is not of universal application. 1t NAV
be very generally applicable, but the simple
fact Of its having an exception, should prompt
us to further investigations; in pursuing which
we should often find that our so called rules are
only so many tolerably constant phenomena,
and not rules Hence this ''rule" of the phil
oSophers, that the attraction of the sun and
moon is the cause of the Tides, is no rule be.
cause there are exceptions to it! OF course
they hno'o this. Then why not humbly ac-
knowledge their error, and set earnestly to work
to dtScOcer the cause, or causes, if they dis
coverable. But our philosophers love abstrac
tions, lluxions, roots logarthms, and formula,
and no phenomenon is held worthy of their
notice, whose causes and history can be given
without the aid of Newton, La Pasc, or Kepler.
And, their formula having failed on tho Tides
the tides to them are Xplicablc!-"Leave
them alone in ther mighty glory they are not for
us! They will not bc universally embraced in
our rule !"
Yet, unmcasured praise is due to the learned
men who have given their attention to the
tides and their attendant pronomcnaI What
patience, what research, what learning, what
devotion to the subject have been exhibited by
them. And great is the benefit accrucing to
mankind thcrelrom. Canute, the Dane knew
not of the Tides. sufficiently, or he would have
filled his courtierS with awe, for he would have
commanded the waves at high-hood to come no
further-and 10 their proud waves would from
that moment have reccded! But modern sci
ence has discovered the Seasons and hours for
the flow and cbb OF the pulSating waters; the
anxious mariner cOnSults his "Side Tables" and
knows TO the minute when with safety he can
put forth from, or make sail for, the lIarbor'S
mouth, more surely than the dwellcrS on tide
washed shore, does he know by his tables and
charts, when and where the highest and lowest
state of water shall be; and Science has made
known these things! Therefore, for what it has
done that is practical available all honor to it.
But, for its own sake-for the worlds sake,
it should be told Of the things it has left un-
done-that it has ignored; and tile cause Of the
tides is one Of these!
| 1t is not now asserted, McssrS Editors that
these causes shall infallibly be made known it
is only claimed that something may be done to
put wiser heads on the right track that n new
triUusly worked, shall yield large profits to the
what avail tho you do discover the real cause
without the knowledge as WITH" have only
to reply that truth and just views on every
question that can interest our minds should
be striven for; that profound minds have invcs-
tigated the subject; and finally, in the words Of
Boyle that | consider ''nolhing is unworthy Of
being investigated, that was thought worthy to
be created by God" propose t. unfold, then,
in another communication, the new, more praC.
ticai, and possibly less fallacous explanation Of
the causes of our Oceanic Tides. II.