Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1882-06-07

Prof. Ball, of England, in q
recent lecture gave the following
interesting account of prehistoric
tides.
At present the moon is 24O,-
600 niles away, but there was a
time when the moon vas only
one>sixth part of this, or say, 49,
900 miles away. That time must
have correspondsd to some geo.
logical epoch. It may have been
earlier than the time when Eocoon
lived. 1t il more likely to have
been later. I want to point out
that when tho moon was only 40.
900 miles away, Ne had in il .
geological engine Of trsuscendant
power. If the present tides be
8 it., and fthe early tides be ZIG
times their present, amount, then
it is plain that the ancient tides
must have been CAB #. There
can be no doubt that in ancient
times tides of this amount, and
even tides very much larger, must
have occurred. l ask the geo
logists to take account Of these
facts, and to consider the effect
a tidal rise and fall of 648 #.
twice every day. Dwell for one
moment on this sublime specta-
Gle of a tide 648 #. high, and see
whatsau agent it would pc for the
performance of geological work!
We are now standing. 1 suppose,
some 500 #. above the level of
thu sea. The sea il q good many
miles from Birmingham, yet if
the rise and fall at the coast were
648 IT,, Birmingham might he as
great a seaport as Liverpool.
Three quarters tide would bring
the sea into the streets of Birm-
ingham. At high tide there
would be about $50 #. of blue
water over our heads. Every
house would be covered, and the
tops of q few chimneys would
alone indicate the site of the
town. In q few hours more the
whole of the vast food would have
retreatsd. Not only would it
leave England high and dry, but
the Straits of Dover
would be drained, and perhaps
even Ireland would, in q literal
sense, become a member of the
United Kingdom. A few hours
pass, and the whole of England
is again inundated, but only again
to be abandoned.
These mighty tides are tho gift
which astronomers have now made
to the working machinery of the
geologist. They constitute an
engine Of terrific power to aid in
the great work If geology. In
the great primeval tides will prob
ably be found the explanation of
what has long been q reproach
to geology. The early palezoic
rocks form a stupendous mass of
ocean made beds, which accord
ing to Prof. Williamson, are 20 !
miles thick up to the top of the
silurian beds. 1t has long been
a difficulty to conceive how such
. gigantic quantity of material
could have been ground up and
at the bottom of the
sea. The biologists said: The |
mighty rivers and other agents of
the present day will do it if you
give them time enough But,
unfortunately, the mathematici-
ans and the natural philosophers
would not give them time enough !
and they ordered the biologists
to 'hurry up their phenomena
The mathematicians had other
reasons for believing that the |
earth could not have been % old |
as the biologists demanded.
Now, however, the mathemati-
clans have discovered the new and
stupendous tidal and grinding en-.
CINE. With this powerful aid the
geologists can get through this
work in a reasonable period Of
time, and the biologists and the
mathematicians NAV be recon.