On the Seiches of the Lake of' Geneva^ 285 



amined, and it will be found, that, like those which are discovered 

 from time to time in the catacombs of Egypt, they represent, 

 point for point, the crocodiles which still inhabit the Nile, that 

 river of high and ancient renown. Before that beautiful monu- 

 ment, the naturalist and the antiquary must stand astonished, 

 and render homage to the genius of the ancients, which led 

 them to throw as much sublimity as accuracy into their works. 



On the Seiches of the Lake of Geneva. * 



The term Seiches is an appellation which is given in the 

 neighbourhood to certain sudden elevations and depressions of 

 the surface, to which the water of the Lake of Geneva is subject. 

 The phenomenon itself has been long and generally known, 

 whilst no satisfactory explanation, nor even any accurate account 

 of the singular circumstance, is to be found in the works that 

 allude to it. Persuaded that further inquiry was desirable. 

 Professor Vaucher of Geneva undertook the investigation ; and 

 in the years 1803 and 1804? read to the Societe de Physique of 

 that city the result of his labours. Much general attention to 

 this interesting paper was not excited at the moment ; and we 

 are convinced that a complete publication of the document will 

 be received with interest. We shall here then supply as much 

 as our space admits, referring for the more minute details to the 

 memoir itself. (Memoires de la Societe de Physique et d'His- 

 toire Naturelle de Geneve, t. iv. part 1.) 



' The waters of the Lake of Geneva, as well as those of all 

 the other lakes that are formed by the rivers which derive their 

 sources from the higher Alps, are subject to a variation, the 

 extreme limits of which usually correspond with the months of 

 August and February, the times of the greatest heat and greatest 

 cold of the climate. 



But independent at' this regular and annual increase, the 

 waters of the lake are also exposed to sudden rises and falls, viz. 

 the Seiches, 



This phenomenon, which is well known to all those who 

 dwell on the borders of the lake towards its western extremity, 



• From the Bibliotheque Universelle. 

 VOL. XVII. NO. XXXTV. OCTOBEU 1834. U 



