ON WAVES. 493 
in such an extent of detail as to furnish any future theorist with 
data as minute as those he might obtain by individual observa- 
tion. This branch of inquiry is however so extensive, that this 
report only gives the commencement of the series, the powers 
of the Committee having been extended during another year for 
continuing the inquiry. 
General Results——The following are nearly the general re- 
sults of these inquiries in so far as they have hitherto been ob- 
tained. 
1. The existence of a GREAT PRIMARY WAVE Of fluid, differ- 
ing in its origin, its phenomena, and its laws from the undula- 
tory and oscillatory waves which alone had been investigated 
previous to the researches of Mr. Russell, has been confirmed 
and established. 
2. The velocity of this wave in channels of uniform depth is 
independent of the breadth of the fluid, and equal to the velocity 
acquired by a heavy body falling freely by gravity through a 
height equal to half the depth of the fluid, reckoned from the 
top of the wave to the bottom of the channel. 
3. The velocity of this primary wave is not affected by the 
velocity of impulse with which the wave has been originally 
generated, neither do its form or velocity appear to be derived 
in any way from the form of the generating body. 
4, This wave has been found to differ from every other species 
of wave in the motion which is given to the individual particles 
of the fluid through which the wave is propagated. By the 
transit of the wave the particles of the fluid are raised from their 
places, transferred forwards in the direction of the motion of 
the wave, and permanently deposited at rest in a new place at 
a considerable distance from their original position. There is 
no retrogradation, no oscillation ; the motion is all in the same 
direction, and the extent of the transference is equal throughout 
the whole depth. Hence this wave may be descriptively desig- 
nated THE GREAT PRIMARY WAVE OF TRANSLATION. The 
motion of translation commences when the anterior surface of 
the wave is vertically over a given series of particles, it increases 
in velocity until the crest of the wave has come to be vertically 
above them, and from this moment the motion of translation is 
retarded, and the particles are left in a condition of perfect 
rest at the instant when the posterior surface of the wave has 
terminated its transit through the vertical plane in which they 
lie. This phenomenon has been verified up to depths of five 
feet. 
5. The elementary form of the wave is cycloidal; when the 
height of the wave is small in proportion to its length the curve 
