Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1878-03-15

o The ORIGIN or THE TIDEs.-All
bodies attract each other; the power Of
the force exerted depending Hpon The
weight Of the bodies and their distance
from each other. Tie weight Of any
body is in fact the force With which the
earth attracts that body to itself. The
celestial to3Ies are all chained togeth.
er BY this lOree Of aatreelscn. The sun
and the mO0n both exert an ttsaetive
Influence on the earth, including our
planet 70 approach to them; this Attrac-
ton being cCunteTbalaneed by the een-
triIugAl force, we describe a curve,
which is the resultant Of those two
forces. But the surface Of the earth
consists Of fluid and SOLID; the former,
owing to ats mobility, exhibits greater
tendency TO obey the attractive ihAn-
ence, and therefore rises 10 meet the
sun OF the moon. The sun. on account
Of his enormous bulk, exercises . mseh
greater attractive force on tAe earth
than the neon, but the solar tide ~
much less than the lunar tide, for this
Eeason-that the moon being near the
earth, attracts the surface Of the sea far
more than is solid bed, and, therefore.
TIE water Tises IL ; heap underneath
the satellite. The sun, on the other
hand, being so distan'. exerts nearly IS
much force on the surface as on the ocean
bed beneath, and, therefore, lilss uP the
water but very little. The identically
same effect il produced upon that part
-e a.. ..-sA -..-a .ls.a~~N f-rsv. Rha sus,
or moon, only in this case the ocean bed
10 drawn towards thOpe bodies moro
rapidly than the water, which is, in
fact, IeIt behind. When the sun and
moon are either in conjunction Or OPP
pOsition-that H., when the line joining
Them passes in the nesghborhOod OF. or
directly through, the eaTth-then, their
attractive forces being united, the si-
dal wave will be Of maximum. tUsm-
ing 'spring tides" If they be IN
duadraiure"-thaii u, if the lines drawn
from their centres 60 the eaTth's een-
ire from 9 light angle--then The tides
will be at q minimum, OF ''nesp tide.
will result. n will be evsdent, thea,
that if the earth were q world Of wateFs.
each tidal wave would pass completely
round the earth in twenty-9onFa ahouTs.
The exirtenee Of cOniinents male
rally nodifies is transit and Il Is drt.-
en- from It's course, and consequently
retarded. The great tidal save takes
It> rise in the deep Antarctic OCEAN
As Il tEaverses the ocean the water -
not raised above few feet; bat when
IL enters shallow sea, or an estuary,
where The tide 6nds itself in Q bOEt Of
funnel then the rise j. sometimes -
much as seventy feet, as IL che case IN
the Bsy Oi Fundy. The wave is not
wave Of transmission; but one Of mo-
iion, and il the PARTICLES Of water were
destitute Of all cohesion cS friction
among themselves they would only rise
into the same place after the sitFaciion
has passed. A ware Of this nature -
iIIustrsted By throwipg stone into
pond: the waveIets, expand from the
point Of disturbance, but do not carry
10 the shore anything thai Goats on the
.snTfacP Of tbs waieS; SSch bodies 0niy
rising ~ Il were 10 allow the wave
10 pass beneath them; this proves hat
the water bad oRly 90 upwaTd and
downward mOvemeas ss Il SoEmed the
wave.