290 Dr CJinton on certain ptieiwmena of 



anterior to the publication of any other experiments on rota- 

 tion, I communicated my discovery to others, it would be 

 proved by the absolute manner in which the date of my com- 

 munication to Mr Foster must thus be fixed. S. H. C. 



Akt. XVI. — On certain Phenomena of the Great Lakes of 

 America. * By De Witt Clinton, LL. D. President of 

 the Lit. and Phil. Society of New York. 



It has been until within a few years generally understood 

 that there are no tides in the Great Lakes of America ; and 

 that the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, and Baltic Seas, and 

 other great waters of the old world, are also exempt from their 

 influence. More accurate observation has, however, indicated 

 that this opinion is in some respects erroneous, and it is now 

 considered doubtful whether it is not altogether so. It is con- 

 fidently said that there are tides in the Mediterranean. At 

 Toulon, three hours and fifteen minutes after the moon has 

 passed its meridian, the tide rises one foot ; and in the highest 

 spring tides, augmented by the concurrence of other causes, 

 it swells as high as two feet.-f* The Lake of Geneva and the 

 Lake of Constance are subject to an occasional rising and fall- 

 ing of their waters three or four feet, several times in succes- 

 sion, by a sort of oscillating motion, which phenomenon is de- 

 nominated Seiches, f There are certain appearances connect- 

 ed with our lakes that resemble the operation of tides, and 

 there are others of a character entirely dissimilar. As the 

 Western Lakes contain the greatest collections of fresh water 

 in the world, all the phenomena connected with them are 

 deeply interesting in relation to geography, agriculture, trade, 

 and natural science : I shall therefore devote this memoir to 

 this subject. 



1. In our lakes there is apparent to every observer a sort 

 of flux and reflux, which we would naturally attribute to the 



* From the Transactions of the Literary and Philosophical Society of 

 New York, vol. ii. part i. p. 25. 



•{• Forster's History of the Voyages in the Xorth. 



% De Saussure's Voijages dans les Alpes; Kinlock's Letters from Geneva 

 and France; Coxe's Sivitzerland ; Siraond's Switzerland. 



