23 2 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



.053865275+, the fractional part of an inch as the distance the moon 

 falls from a tangent to its orbit in one second of time. Multiply this 

 by the square of 60, and we get, when reduced, 16.159+ feet, the dis- 

 tance the moon descends in one minute, which is equal to 15.1+ Paris 

 feet, the result obtained by Newton in his " Principia." 



The distance the earth falls, in one second of time, toward the sun 

 is about .12144+ of an inch, and the distance the moon falls toward 

 the sun in one second, when in opposition, is about .12084 of an inch. 

 This, added to the distance the moon falls toward the earth in one 

 second, makes .17470 + . Now, .17470 .12144 = .05326. Hence the 

 moon, when in opposition, moving faster toward the earth than the 

 earth does toward the sun, by .05326 fractional part of an inch in a 

 second, these two bodies have a tendency to get nearer to each other 

 in this position. The same can be proved when the moon is in con- 

 junction. 



Now let xis see how this same law affects the waters of the ocean. 

 The earth moves toward the sun .12144 part of an inch in a second. 

 The waters of the earth, on the side turned away from the sun, are only 

 4,000 miles farther from the sun than the centre of the earth. Gravity 

 toward any body diminishes as the square of the distance increases. 

 Hence these waters, influenced by the gravitating power of the sun 

 alone, and not hindered by any intervening object, would fall toward 

 the sun .12143 part of an inch in one second. Hence the earth has a 

 tendency to move away from the waters with a velocity of .00001 

 part of an inch in one second that is, if these waters were not influ- 

 enced by the gravitating power of the earth, and only by that of the 

 sun, the earth woidd be " pulled away" from its waters at the rate of 

 only the 100,000th part of an inch in one second. But it must be re- 

 membered that the waters gravitate, in addition to this, toward the 

 earth at the rate of 16.15+ feet in one second, and therefore these 

 waters are depressed by gravity, and not elevated. The same may be 

 proved in regard to lunar tides. 



I close by saying that I am an earnest seeker of truth, and nothing 

 but a sincere desire for truth has impelled me to write these two 

 articles. Any person attempting to prove me in error, with the same 

 good motive, will be kindly welcomed. 



-**- 



MODEEN SUPEKSTITIONS. 



MOST people accept it as a fact that superstition went out with 

 the advent of steam, the telegraph, and the penny-post. A 

 little honest observation, however, will assure us that there still exist 

 a number of pitiable though petty superstitions. Among certain 

 classes there are lucky and unlucky days in their calendar. They 



