24 PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA 
CHAP. 4. 
THE WAVES OF THE OCEAN. 
Waves and the Mode of their Formation.—Height and Velocity of Storm-Waves, 
on the High Seas, according to the Calculations of Scoresby, Arago, Sir James 
Ross, and Wilkes—Their Height and Power on Coasts—Their Destructive 
Effects along the British Shore-—Dunwich.—Reculver.—Shakspeare’s Cliff. 
AFTER having admired the sea in the grandeur of its expanse, 
and the profundity of its depths, I shall, in this and the two 
following chapters, examine in what manner the perpetual cir- 
culation of its waters is maintained. 
“ The movements of the sea,” says Humboldt, “ are of a three- 
fold description: partly irregular and transitory, depending 
H.M.S. ‘* Resolute’? lying- to in the North Atlantic. 
upon the winds, and occasioning waves; partly regular and 
periodical, resulting from the attraction of the sun and the moon 
