164 THE ORIGIN OF CREATION. 



if it is pressed by currents of wind, it in turn presses whatever 

 is opposed to it. On water, therefore, we find that wind storms 

 will sometimes raise the tide two or three feet higher than usual. 

 If our atmosphere, consequently, is pressed from without,- that 

 is, by any other atmosphere the oceans are impelled to show 

 evidence of such pressure by their rise and fall. 



It will be observed, then, that as the earth revolves on its 

 " axis," its atmosphere must be pressed by the atmospheres of 

 the other planets whenever it crosses the Plane of the Ecliptic, 

 as they are more confined at that point than any other. As 

 the earth revolves once on its axis daily, the whole of the 

 globe's surface must be exposed twice to the pressure of the 

 other planets' atmospheres on the Plane of the Ecliptic. We 

 have two tides daily. What is the natural inference to be 

 drawn from these facts ? Nothing less than that the pressure of 

 other atmospheres on the atmosphere of the earth, as it cr oases 

 the Plane of the Ecliptic, causes the tides. 



But it will be argued that we make nothing of the influence 

 of the moon, which undoubtedly has some action on the tides. 

 We admit the fact of that influence but its effect is apparent 

 only when the moon is at the new or the full. The tides are 

 then much higher than usual, and this arises, in a similar way, 

 by the moon crossing the Plane of the Ecliptic, and adding 

 the pressure of its own body and atmosphere to the influence 

 which is felt there already. Although it is denied that the moon 

 has an atmosphere, such a condition would not be in accordance 

 with the existence of any other known body, and according to 

 atomagnetic or natural law it could not exist without one. 



It may be asked, how do we account for the tide following 

 the meridian ? The attraction theory explains it, on the ground 



