Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-04

At present the moon is 100000 miles away;
but there was a time when the moon was only
one-s'xth part of this, or say 10000 miles away.
That time must have correspondent to some geo
logical epoch. 1t may have been earlier than
the time when Cocoon lived. 1t is more likely
to have been later. l want to point out that
when the moon was only 40 600 miles away. we
power. If the present tides be feet, and if
the early tides be PIG times their present
amount, then it is plain that the ancient tides
must have been CAS- feet.
There can be no doubt that in ancient times
tides of this amount and even tides very much
larger must have occurred ask the biologists
to take account of these facts, and to consider
the effect-a tidal rise and fall of 64S feet twice
every day. Dwell for one moment on the sub
lime spectacle of tide 64S feet high. and see
what an agent it would be for the performance
of geological work! We are now standing,
l suppose. some 800 feet above the level of the
sea- The sea is good many miles from Biz
nlingham yet if the rise and fall at the coasts
were 6iS feet. Birmingham might be as great a
seaport as Liverpool. Three-quarters tide
would bring the sea into the streets of Birmin1-
ham. At high tide there would be about $50
feet of blue water over our heads. Every house
would be covered, and the tops of a few Chin
neys would alone indicate the site of the town
In few hours more the whole of this vast
Hood would have retreated. Not only would it
leave England high and dry, but probably the
Straits of Dover would be drained, and perhaps
even Ireland would in a literal sense become a
member of the United Kingdom. A few hours
pass, and the whole of England is again inun-
dated but only again to be abandoned.
These mighty tides are the gift which astrono-
mers nave now made to the working machinery
of the geolOgist. They constitute an engine of
terrific power to aid in the great work of geo.
lOgy. What would the puny efforts Of water in
other ways accomplish when compared with
these majestic tides and the great currents they
produce?
In the great primeval tides will probably be
found the explanation Of what has long been a
reprOach to geology. The early paleOZOic rocks
form a stupendOus mass OF Ocean-made beds,
which, according to Professor williamson are
twenty miles thick up to the top of the slurian
beds. 1t has long been difficulty to conceive
how such gigantic quantity of material could
have been ground up and deposited at the Dot
tom of the sea. The biologists said: I" The
rivers and other agents of the present day will
do it if you give them time enough
But. unfortunately the mathematician and
the natural philosophers would not give them
time enough, and they ordered the geOlogists
to ''hurry up their phenomena" The mathe-
maticians had other reasons for believing that
the earth could not have been so old as the
biologists demanded. Now, however. the
matematicians have discovered the new and
stupendOus tidal grinding engine. With this
powerful aid the biologists can get through
their work i'm reasonable period of time. and
the geOlogist and mathematician may be recon
ciled.-Lect,ne by Prot. Bal, of England