The National tribune., 1895-07-25
TIDES
Are They Caused by Attraction or
Motion?

EDITOR NATIONAL TRIBUNE: The theory
| that the moon attracts the water of the ocean
causing tides, belongs to the age and grade o.
philosophers who taught that the earth wa:
plain supported by a turtle, and that the
sun, in order to make its daily circuit around
the earth, lodged through hole somewhere
underneath this plain and pulled the moon III
after ii.
There are many reasons why the theory
of attraction cannot be correct. The law
of attraction would be violated by the
water The law of attraction, or, for that
matter, any other law, cannot operate against
OF in opposition TO itself. No law could
exist if this were possible. Light and dark
ness cannot exist together. The law that
causes light must be suspended before there
can be darkness. No force or law can operate
in opposite directions. So attraction cannot
attract, draw toward the center Of attraction,
OF body that attracts, and repel or force from
| the attracting body at the same time; yet,
this is the relation of the water to the moon,
according to the theory of moon attraction.
| While the moon OH one side of the earth lifts
the water of the oceans, if it lifts it, on the
other side the same force is repelling or forcing
the water in the opposite direction.
The motion of the water that we call
tides cannot, therefore, be caused by moon
attraction. Again, the nearer the center of
attraction or body that attracts to the thing
or body attracted, the greater the power to
attract. The tides, therefore, should be
greater on the equator, but they are not In
fact this irregularity in the tides destroys
the theory of attraction as applied to the
tides. If the moon attracts the water of the
oceans the result must be governed by the
laws of attraction, which are uniform and
invariable This is not the case either ON
latitude or longitude.
1t is surprising that theory can find
respectable favor and adoption which holds
that force that lifts the water in the Bay of
Fundy 90 feet cannot lift it 30 feet at the
mouth of the Columbia River in the same
longitude west. 1t is the same as saying that
a cannon can throw shot on the east side
of the Continent 10 miles, but when moved
to the west side can throw it but five
miles, with the same charge elevation and
equipment. The law governing the propel-
ling of proiectiles forbids such statement.
So, also, the law governing attraction forbids,
as well as higher law forbids, belief that
attraction could be so fickle.
Again, if the moon lifts the water in the
Bay of Fundy 60 feet, why has it lost all
power to lift the waters of the Great
Lakes as it passes over them in Its westward
course? BY what law is attraction attraction
at the Bay of Fundy, but not attraction at
the Great Lakes? However, the men who
plant beans and potatoes and make rails by
the moon are all on the side of the moon
power theory. and can no more he convinced
that the moon docs not regulate and control
all things, from the yeaning of calf to the
E IL
could that class of philosophers who did not
believe that the earth turns over, and who
met the fact by saying: :" If it did the water
in my mill-pond would all spill out
/ charge the theory of attraction with
three great and insurmountabe absurdities
1t claims that attraction both draws toward
the moon and repels from it at the same time.
This is contradiction in terms, and an impos-
sibility in law or philosophy, and. therefore,
cannot be true. Its want of uniformity in
lifting the water at equal distances, by which
the law of forces is violated that requires that
the power to lift shall be uniform at the same
distance from the center of power. The
water is not lifted in anything like uniform
ity at the same distance from the moon, on
any longitude, but rises in the most wide and
confusing variation. If the law of forces is
disrcgarded. then the force itself must be
abandoned, for it is absurd to hold that
government exercises any control or porrls
where its laws are not Obcved ana il is be-
wildering to try to think of a government
t;hhat exists in violation of It's own laws
So a theory based upon a belief that force
violates the laws by which we know that law TO
exist, denies the operation of that force in any
question at issue. If there is any affinity in
water for moon attraction, then the moon
must attract water wherever found and under
whatever conditions found. A theory cannot
be true that is so much at variance with the
principles of its existence.
is there more rational theory? We
think there is. Tide is water in motion. no
matter what caused the motion Water re-
ceiving motion will, in obedience to law gov
erning it, rise in waves OF swells moving for
ward, and when obstructcd will rise in pro-
portion to the power or motion received in an
effort to overcome the obstruction This will
be true whether it be wind that imparts the
motion, or a passing steamer, or the splashing
of an oar, and the effect will always be lust
the same, on pond or lake. on river or ocean,
in any latitude or longitude, and that, too,
in total disregard to the presence or position |
of the moon.
The motion OF the earth from west to east |
not only gives us day and night, but keeps |
the water from oyerfowing the land by dis |
tributlng 1T over large part of the earth's |
crust 1t would require but slight rise of |
the water of the oceans, in proportion TO its |
volume, to overwhelm a large part of the |
land, and this might be brought about by |
only slight change IN the speed of the rota- |
ton Of the earth. The inclination of the |
water is to slip along the curved crust of the |
earth in the direction of the point OF incline |
or lowest point. This the motion of the earth |
overcomes and corTects continuously. The |
principal incline of the water is in two direc- |
tions latitudinal and longitudinal; that is, |
from the equator towards the poles or in a |
northern and southern direction, and down |
ward on the equator or in an eastern and |
western direction These two directions are |
at right angles TO each other, but the water |
inclines from any point on the equator to- |
ward corresponding points in the open field |
Of the square formed by these two lines
The water on any of these diverging lines |
viii incline stronger as that line is near the |
east or west line or what may be called the |
equatorial line. This double draw or incline |
OF the water from the equator, together with |
the more rapid motion of the earths crust at |
that point, helps to make lower tides on that |
line than at points where the incline of the |
water centers. If line be drawn perpen-
dicularly through the center OF the earth. |
crossing the line of its axis the motion of |