196 



EBB AND FLOW. 



comes thick and suffocating at the time of ebb, from which 

 it may seem manifest, not that the waters boil up, (for 

 none are seen to do so), but that the air is reverberated. 

 No doubt there is another objection, not despicable but of 

 great weight, every way deserving of an answer, one which 

 has been the subject of careful observation, and that not 

 incidentally, but a thing specially and of purpose inquired 

 into and discovered, namely, that the waters at the opposite 

 shores of Europe and of Florida ebb at the same hours 

 from both shores, and do not quit the shore of Europe 

 when they roll to the shore of Florida, like water (as we 

 have said before) agitated in a basin, but are manifestly 

 raised and depressed at either shore at once. But a clear 

 solution of this objection will be seen in the observations 

 which shall presently be made about the path and pro 

 gression of the ocean; the substance, however, is this; 

 that the waters, setting out in their course from the Indian 

 ocean, and obstructed by the remora of the continents of 

 the old and new world, are impelled along the Atlantic 

 from south to north ; so that it is no wonder if they are 

 driven against either shore equally at the same time, as 

 waters are wont to be, which are propelled from the sea 

 into estuaries and up the channels of rivers, evidently 

 showing that the motion of the sea is progressive as respects 

 the rivers, and yet that it at once inundates both shores. 

 Notwithstanding, according to our custom we freely con 

 fess, and would have men observe and remember, that if it 

 is found in experience that the tide advances at the same 

 time on the coast of China and Peru, as on that of Europe 

 and Florida, this our opinion, that ebb and flow is a pro 

 gressive motion of the sea, must be repudiated. 



For if the flow of the sea takes place at the same time 

 at the opposite shores, as well of the Pacific or Southern 

 Ocean as of the Atlantic Ocean, there are not in the uni 

 verse any shores remaining, at which a corresponding ebb, 

 at the same time, might afford a satisfactory solution of 

 the objection. But we propose with confidence of a trial 

 of this by experiment, to whose test we submit our cause: 

 for we are clearly of opinion, that were the general result 

 of a trial of this fact through the world known to us, this 

 compact of nature would be found effected on sufficiently 

 reciprocal conditions, namely, that at any given hour as 

 much reflux took place in some parts of the world as flow 

 in others. Therefore, from what we have stated, this mo 

 tion of ebb and flow may be affirmed progressive. 



