14 
Zee, to five miles in parts of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. 
The Wave’s mean rate of progress is something like 350 miles 
an hour, but not by any means uniform. Starting in the Pacific 
it occupies twelve hours in its journey to the South African 
coast, twelve hours more is required to reach the Azores, and in 
six hours more it reaches our coast—occupying thirty hours in 
its course—but high water at Morecambe Bay is not reached 
until seven hours later ; and it takes eighteen hours to circle 
the whole of our Island ; it therefore follows, that in some place 
at least, high water must be twelve hours later than Morecambe 
Bay. 
The Wave must have played an important part in connection 
with the changes of climate that took place in past ages. 
The temperature of its waters would affect the shores it visited. 
Other causes assigned for the change of climate, such as the 
changes in inclination of the Karth’s axis, &c., would also affect 
the height and temperature of the Wave. 
At what particular period of the Earth’s history our imaginary 
Wave existed is not important, but since the “ waters gathered 
together” the size of the combined Wave of the tide has been 
slowly but surely decreasing, and continues so to do. Although 
the Moon exercises more power over the tide than the Sun, her 
control is not supreme: the Sun exercises the mastery as to the 
time period of the Wave, and in course of time the solar tide will 
prevail. The Moon, by her excessive tidal action and retrograde 
motion, is slowly destroying her own power, while the combined 
Waves, by their friction, are lengthening the Earth’s rotation on 
her axis. Both Sun and Moon exercise their several forces as 
mighty engines of the wave, fitting the world for man’s abode 
and habitation. In time the lunar Wave will cease to exist. 
The solar tide, yet remaining, will for a while continue to per- 
form his part, until it too shall cease, and the earth be no longer 
fit for man’s abode. 
Thus we have traced the Wave from its cradle to its grave. 
Silently and steadily has the mighty ocean exercised his power, 
and will continue so to do until the Moon’s influence on the 
tide shall cease—until the day shall be as sixty of our present 
days, and the snow line shall descend to the sea, and the sea 
itself become ice—not till then shall we see the grave of our 
Wave. And until then the restless Wave will continue to per- 
form its allotted daily task at the Will of its Creator. And the 
countless ages of its existence shall be to that Creator ‘but as 
one day.” 
The discussion on the Paper was taken part in by Messrs. 
Clement, Osborne, Leather, Bradshaw, Holden, Preston, and 
A, Strange. 
