268 A Defence of the ne'w Theory of the Tides. 



pansion in the particles of water to be the immediate cause of 

 the phaenomenon. 



Mr. Russell agrees with me that the waters do press down- 

 wards towards the centre at the time the tides are rising, and 

 he admits that they are not pulled upwards by the power of the 

 moon's attraction ; but, instead of allowing that they are pushed 

 upwards by the expansion of their own particles, he supposes 

 that they are pushed ujiwards by the downward pressure [some 

 thousands of miles off") of the waters where the tide is ebbing, or, 

 to use his own words, " by the superior gravity of those waters 

 that constitute the ebb." 



Now I recommend to Mr. Russell to fill a box with marbles, 

 or any other hard round substances, and then try whether an 

 additional weight at one end will cause the other end to rise 

 up. Mr. Russell, I suppose, will not maintain that there is an 

 immense syphon at the bottom of the ocean ; and, as he has not 

 thought proper to explain it himself, I can imagine no other 

 way by which he can make good his hypothesis. Whether he 

 can, or whether he cannot, is however of very little moment, be- 

 cause I can prove, in hundreds of instances, that the tides are 

 rising when his sup})osed cause has no existence ; and if I can 

 make this evident, as Mr. Russell has gone so far as to acknow- 

 ledge that the waters are not pulled upwards by the power of 

 the moon's attraction, he must either admit my theory to be 

 true, or be guilty of the absurdity of n>aintaining that an effect 

 may be produced without a cause. If Mr. Russell will allow 

 that the moon's attraction is the primary cause of the rising of 

 the tides, he must admit that in the open ocean the tides are 

 rising at the same time all the way as fai' as 90° to the westward 

 of any place where it is just high water. Now the Atlantic 

 Ocean is not more than 60" or 70" broad, and consequently, 

 when the tides are still rising, a little beibre high water, in the 

 Bay of Biscay, they must be also rising over the wliole breadth 

 of the Atlantic Ocean. It is evident from tliis, that the tides 

 may be rising on one side of the Atlantic when there is no ebb 

 on the other ; and therefore, unless we are to suppose that the 

 waters are rising upwards and jiressing downwards at the same 

 time, (which would be to acknov/letlge n)y principle of expansion, 

 and to do away with the necessity of Mr. Russell's hypothesis,) 

 the rising of the tides cannot be j^roduced by such a cause. 



Mr. Russell further argues, that " the circumstance of the 

 highest tides being invariably accompanied by the lowest ebb, 

 is alone suHicient to convince any impartial inquirer that the 

 ebb and flow of the waters are {produced by changes of place, 

 and not by rarefaction and condensation alone." 



This objection however is very easily answered. Mr. Rus- 

 sell 



