The daily Alaskan., 1912-03-29
OF THE SEA
Terrific Power Is Generated When
 a Cyclone RageS.
THEN THE WATERS RUN WILD

All Regularity of Wave Motion Ceases
 as the Sea Bursts its 6ounds-Gran-
 ite Blocks Weighing Thousand Tons
 Tossed About Like Pebbles.
 A pond troubled by a pebble gives C comprehensive idea of the mechanism of the perpetual motion of the ocean, now slow, regular and majestic. run ming from horizon to horizon. now rushing in ungovernable fury against the land. When a pebble falls in pond 1t produces a fine circular line. which widens. multiplying until stop ped by it's boundaries Iuyt so is pro duced the surgiug oi Inc se,
 To judge from appearances. the swcils transport tIe wH,l toward the circumference of tfr laIG Il point Of fact they do noth'0= af ." ..ai. as l. easily proved by ua'c, o- splinter of wood being catr rpuu 'lr water The match is hardly r ad or l0v6reh by the passage Of tIIa swell Tn actioT in evidence is simply the transmission of motion, not the transmission Of matter.
 The fine waves of the sea are gen erated by the wind as fine waves are generated by the wind when it ripples a field of grain ready for the harvest, The waves that run over the field or grain are real waves. often waves in fierce action. The spears of grain are immovably fixed to the ground by their roots, but every blade transmits its os- cilIatory movement to the next blade. Just so liquid molecules are formed
 In the middle Of a vast ocean, such as the equatorial Atlantic, for instance. great regular uudulatiOns are seen mul- tiplying in parallels like the furrows In a vast plowed field On the broad ocean the liquid mounds of the sea rise with every swing with more or less even regularity.
 The mariners imagination has given the great waves of the high sea the reputation of fabulous height. Relia- ble authors have talked of waves mountain high and of waves l2O feet in height Exact measurement has giv en a closer estimate.
 The waves of the high sea, of the ma jor oceans. attain the height of fifty feet under the exceptional conditions of tempest in the vicinity of Cape Horn and the Cape of Good Hoe. The surges here estimated are those in free circulation on the high seas
 When wave, whatever its strength or its weakness, meets a solid obstacle, whether that obstacle be rocky cliT or a ship. the swell rebounds to ey- raordinary heights Lighthouses are often swept by the sea from base to summit
 The length Of waves is between twenty and thirty times their height, and the slope of the seas hills is very gentle. A wave sixty feet high is somewhere between 1000 and l,200 feet long.
 At the axis Of the revolving tempest called a cyclone there are many wave systems. moving in all directions, meeting and combining When the cy- clone is in action the sen k said to burst its bounds"
 At such a time all regularity of wave succession ceases. and the sea runs wild. with force beyond human power to estimate. Blocks of granite weigh ing from 1000 to 200 tons are caught by the sea and rolled like pebbles 10 distances of 800 feet and more. and sea walls are splintered as by hatch cts. The Hive power of furious sea Is estimated by multiplying the mass of the surge by the square of It's speed.
 When the surf. impelled by the drive of the broad sea. meets solid Obsta- cle it's pressure is thirty tons per square meter of water This estimate. which is close. explains how water. when continually sapUing the foot of a cliff. breaks down the land. forces back the shore line and little by little. constantly and surely. increases the seas domain.
 A wave from 33 to 35 feet high and G25 feet long-such a wave as the sea produces every eighteen seconds-rep- reSents power of about 1850 horse power. steam, per square yard.-Har- pers Weekly.