Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-04-07
TIDES OF THE WORLD
Oldest and Most Regular Phe-
nomena of Nature.
UNEXPLAINED BY SCIENCE
One of the Marvellous Spectacles of
the Earth.
THE GREAT WHITE THING"
Monckton's Huge Daily Tidal Bore
From Bay of Fundy-Waterfalls
That Seem to Run Uphill.
HE GREAT WHITE THING
Written for The Star.

written Tor The star.
or all the phenomena within the knowl-
edge Of man since his appearance on the
earth, the most regular and constant have
been the daily tides of the ocean. Winds
sometimes cease blowing. The seasons vary
almost year by year. The steady clock of
the starry heavens is often hidden by cloud
and fog. But not for single day since the
day OF the first man has anything inter
fered with the daily change from high
water TO low water and back again wher-
ever the salt sea touches the coast
Yet though the tides have thus been the
most impressive happenings that the race
has seen, less IS known about them even
now than about any OF the other operations
of the universe. II is true that scientists
.oday predict the times of high and low
water to the very minute for every day for
every port in the world year and more
ahead Of time, and that these predictions
are almost uniformly correct. 1t is true
that wonderful machines Have been de-
yised TO calculate the times, heights, varla-
tons and duration Of every tide In the
year in more than three thousand places
on the earth's surface. 1t is true that the
present theory of the tides is IN many re-
speCts one Of the most amazing results
that pure reasoning has ever reached.
But for all that, many prominent mathe-
rlaticiaus and specialists today assail the
very foundation of the theory, which is
that the tides are que 10 LNe COllttIQlIS at
tractiye forces Of the moon and sun. They
declare that not single tide could be
worked out by absolute adherence TO this
principle. and Il is true that the tidal cal
culatIOns Of all marine governments depend
greatly on the figures that are obtained
not by theoretical Mathematics, but by
plain. ordinary measurements that are
made hour after hour, day and night, at
certain important tidal stations throughout
the world.
The Tidal Theory.
The theory Of the lunar and solar tides
Is 20 complex that only a specialist in
mathematical astronomy can understand IL.
Reduced to It's simplest terms. it is this:
The sea IS considered enveloping the
earth at a uniform level. Consequently, the
attraction OF the moon at any point i'm
rnadistelv above the sea 10 greater than
its attraction on any part or the earth.
Thus the moon tends 10 pull the water
I'D toward itself at that point. At the
same time. at the point of the earth
directly opposite, the water is a little
farther from the moon than the land is.
Consequently the effect Of the moons at
traction there is to pull the earth away
from the sea, or. in other terms, II tends
20 deepen the sea thefe 700, thouBn III a
The assailauts of this theory pour con
tempt and ridicule on IT. One of them,
Alexander Brownie, who has made
cal and equilibrium theory by a geo
graphical one, said recently
"a cubic foot OF water of the lightest
kind weighs 62A pounds. II is estimated
that during the flood OF a single very
high flood tide 700.OO0,OO0 cubic yards OF
water pass the port OF Liverpool And
vet the moon that can set this enormous
mass in motion cannot attract straw
For all that the believers in the lunar
theory have among them almost all the
great authorities. and the high tides
everywhere correspond striktngly TO the
Increases IN the moon They point TO the
fact that they are able to give the mari
ner absolutely reliable data and that ne
can be almost entirely confident when he
approaches any known port that he will
And the tide there as his tidal book pre-
diets It. And they say to their opponents;
Produce set OF equally reliable tide
tables by pure reasoning under your own
theory. and we VIII yield our position to
you"
al present the believers in the Idea Of
the lunar influence on the tides have
tho better OF the argument. and the great
t.Se tables OF the British and American
governments are all based on it. with re-
suits that are not only satisfactory, but
amazing.
Americas Great Tide Book.
Every autumn the United States coast
and geodetic survey issues book of 900
pages which is literally packed full of
tidal calculations for the following year
There is hardly port In the world whose
ttdes are not given. For big ports there
are often scores OF tides for each day:
thus there are more than 100 daily tides
Tor the port of New York. so that a mar
tner can tell at a glance whether or NOT
he can take his ship into any berth with
In hundred miles of Sandy Hook.
In most places OF the world there are