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that inertia keeps the mass of water from immediately rising, 

 and obeying the attraction of the moon. We may also answer 

 that inertia prevents it from yielding at once to the pressure of 

 the atmosphere ; and that just as the ocean billows are largest 

 wlifii the tempest lias nearly blown itself out, so the tide wave 

 is highest after the pressure is over. 



In answer to the query What makes the tide vary so much 

 in different localities 1 We answer, that this is all due to the 

 formation of the land at the points of contact with the sea, or 

 its position with regard to prevailing winds. 



The reason that there is scarcely any tide, observed in the 

 Mediterranean, is owing to the winds blowing three fourths of 

 the year into the bay at the mouth of the Straits of Gibraltar. 

 This causes a strong current to flow through the Straits into the 

 Mediterranean, and as the waters are thus raised higher than 

 the general sea level of the Atlantic, and have no other outlet, 

 they flow back again to the Atlantic by an undercurrent. Thia 

 we proved by experiment in the year 1830, on board the brig 

 Clarence, John U. Ross, master. 



In the Bay of Fundy, which is a long straight bay, with a 

 very wide entrance, tapering to a narrow point like a funnel, 

 there is a higher tide than at any other place in the world. 

 This is caused by the tidal wave striking the shore, and running 

 along the North Atlantic coast into the wide mouthed bay, and, 

 as the funnel is continually narrowing, the waters are pressed far 

 above the sea level, because they cannot fall back owing to the 

 heavy pressure of the currents behind urging them on. Tides 

 of sixty and seventy feet thus occur daily at the head of the Bay. 

 In Cumberland I'.isin, at the head of the Bay of Fundy, near 

 Sackville, New Brunswick, the tide flows up Tantamar river, 



