XE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 
Quebec as much as twenty-two feet. It is a question whether excep- 
tional tides at Quebec are due to the effect of the barometer on the tide 
in the gulf or at the mouth of the river, which becomes magnified in 
the same ratio as the tide itself on the way up the river to Quebec; or 
whether they are to be attributed to the more direct effect of the wind or 
barometer in the region of the lower St. Lawrence itself. 
A remarkable example occurred on the 30th of January, 1894, when 
a drop of over an inch in the barometer in twenty-four hours was 
accompanied by a rise in the tide at Quebec of six feet above the normal 
tide at the time. As this drop occurred over the gulf area almost simul- 
taneously with the drop at Quebec itself, and was also accompanied by 
strong north-easterly and easterly winds along the lower St. Lawrence, 
it does not afford a direct answer to the alternatives suggested above. 
The barometer curves from Sydney, C.B., to Quebec, are shown on 
drawing No. 2, and are compared with the exceptional tide at Quebec, 
as given by the tide gauge. The whole of these observations are reduced 
to a simultaneous standard of time. 
On another occasion, on February 8th, of this year, when the tide 
rose at Quebec nearly seven feet above the normal tide at the time, there 
is no corresponding irregularity at Father Point; which indicates that 
the change in the character of the tide occurred in the course of its pro- 
gress up the river. This exceptional tide took place while a severe storm 
centre was passing on a north-easterly course over Cape Hatteras. Boston, 
Miramichi, and across the centre of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 
It may often happen that exceptionally high or low tides occur at 
the neaps, when they may appear to an ordinary observer as a spring tide 
at the wrong time of the month; and it is only when they occur at the 
springs that they attract the public attention as something unusual. On 
a self-registering gauge, however, the irregularity at any time is very 
evident. 
The Lower St. Lawrence affords an opportunity which is probably 
unequalled anywhere else, for the investigation of the effects referred to ; 
both on account of the great increase in the range of the tide, and also 
because the valley of the St. Lawrence lies parallel to the usual track of 
storms. On account of the limited amount of means and assistance with 
which this survey has to be carried on, all that can be attempted at pre- 
sent is to obtain the complete data at the time, which may serve as a 
basis for investigation in the future. 
