Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1884-11-07
The Height Of Waves.

Many experiments have been made "a
measure the height of waves in all CON
ditions of weather. One authority goes
as high as sixty-four~fect and another az
low as five feet, giving it as his reason
that the penetrating power OF wind can
not reach below that depth. OF this
philosopher it may BIZ presumed that he
was a martyr to seasickness, and that
he must have contented himself with
making his calculations in his study.
On the other hand. q height of sixty
four feet is almost as absurd. though it
is more in correspondence than five feet
can possibly be with eerr conception of
the altitude of the majestic surges
which roll under the impulse of storms
OF wind along the surface of the great
oceans. 1t is true that the earthquake
wave has been known to rise to sixty
feet; yet surges of this kind are happily
scarce, since when they occur they arc
not only in the habit of razing whole
towns upon the coast line where they
break. but Of carrying some of the YES
sells they may encounter at anchor in
the neighborhood to, the distance of q
days walk inland. Practical expert
ence, however will look with suspicion
upon most of the, scientific theories
touching the altitude and velocity of
waves. Prof. Airy's table couples
speed with dimensions, and, az a sam
pie OF his calculations, lit may he shown
that a wav m hundred thousand feet
in breadth will travel at the rate of
$3.50 feet per second in water that is
ten thousand feet deep. This is posi-
bic, but it is. difficult to accept such con-
illusions as exact. At all events, there
is nothing none; deceptive than the
height of waves. The tallest seas in the
world run off Cape Horn, where,
whether the wind blows east or west,
they have. a. holiday ground within a
belt Of eight OF ten degrees that COM
passes the globe without the interven-
ton of a break OF land. Any man who
has run, say, before a strong westerly
gale round the Horn will know the mag
nitude OF the q q which follow his snip.
Viewed from the stern when the vessel
sinks in the trough, the oncoming sea
that is about to underrun the shin and
lift her soaring to the flying heavens
will Seem to heave its rushing summit
to the height of the ~mizzen-top; but
when the summit is gained by the OBJ
server, and the waves viewed from
there, it will then be seer that those
crests which from the deck looked a
long way up, will now appear to be a
long way down. 1t is a common shore.
going phrase that the seas run ''moun-
tain high The idea implied is not
very generally accepted by sailors.
though the term may be sometimes
used by them for convenience. Thc
truth is, if waves were as tall as they
are popularity supposed to be, no shiI
could by any possibility live in them.
They are lofty to the fancy, because al
sea they are usually surveyed from low
f%reeboards. To- spectator on a steamer
with a s~iN-foot height of side, aa Allan
tic or Pacific surge would neccssarii,
appear as a mountain as compared tt
the aspect it would take from the decl
Of an old line-of-battle ship, with
thirty-foot dip or from n of thos'
lofty, glazed, and castellated structure
which in former times took six month
to Jog soberly from tho Thames to tn
Hooghly.-Lonaon Telegraph.
james Lyon, of Pamela, Ga, hs
thirty children, ~-AlontG Constitution.