ee ae 
REPORT ON THE TIDES. 115 
remarkable instances might be adduced *, have long been felt, 
_ but there can be little doubt that its more general application 
_ to questions depending for their illustration upon extensive series 
of irregular numbers, particularly those of meteorology and sta- 
tistics (such as variations in prices, in the population, &c.), would 
_ greatly assist in developing relations at present obscure. 
It appears from our examination that the establishment and 
mean height of high water are liable to slight fluctuations, which 
baffle at present our attempts to obtain extreme accuracy in tide 
predictions. ‘This subject seems to deserve attention. 
I have now endeavoured briefly to advert to those parts of 
the subject which appear to require further elucidation, in the 
hope that they may attract the attention of those whose command 
of analysis may enable them to remove the difficulties which still 
remain to be surmounted, and I have mentioned some of the 
facts which appear to me to result from these laborious calcula- 
tions, which never could have been undertaken but for the interest 
which has been felt in the subject by some of the most distin- 
guished members of the Association, particularly by Mr.Whewell, 
and but for the pecuniary grants which have at different times 
been devoted to this object. I hope that when the results are 
earefully examined which have been published in the Philoso- 
phical Transactions, they will not: be found disproportionate in 
value to the great labour and expense which has been required 
‘for their attainment. 
I have lately received, through the kindness of M. Arago, the 
printed Brest Tide Observations from January, 1807, up to the 
end of December, 1835. It now therefore remains to be consi- 
dered whether by pursuing further this inquiry in the same 
manner other important facts can be elicited from the Brest ob- 
servations. I was formerly extremely anxious to obtain access 
to these observations: first, because I understood that they weret 
in print ; secondly, because the tide there is single ; thirdly, on 
account of the classical interest which attaches to these obser- 
_ vations, from being the foundation of the remarks connected 
_ with this subject by Laplace in the Mécanique Céleste ; and 
_ fourthly, because the Brest observations extend throughout the 
_ Same period as those made at the London Docks, which we have 
: _ employed in our former discussion, Bakerian Lecture, 1836. 
- But I am not inclined to think that a discussion of the Brest 
_ Observations would now lead to results presenting any important 
As 
_ * E.g. Sir J. Herschel’s determination of the orbits of double stars. 
_ + We have felt great inconvenience in employing MS. observations; more- 
ee if the observations which we used were in print, greater facilities would 
exist for verifying our results. 
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