442 THE CHEMISTRY OF CREATION. 



of the sun and moon, and the power of the 

 wind. What are called tides are, in reality, 

 vast wave-like movements due to the attraction 

 of these heavenly bodies, but in their effects 

 influencing vast portions of the watery regions 

 of our planet. Mr. Scott Russell, who has ibr 

 many years paid much attention to this subject, 

 calls this the Great Primary Wave. In merely 

 beholding the phenomena of the ebb and flow 

 of the tide, it may be difficult to realize the fact 

 that these effects are due to the rise and fall of 

 one mighty wave, which rises in mid-ocean, and 

 in falling casts its wide-extending waters on the 

 shores of half the world. Under the influence 

 of the lunar, or at stated periods, of solar and 

 lunar attraction, a vast mass of the waters of 

 the ocean is raised above its general level ; obe- 

 dient to the laws of hydrostatics and of gravity, 

 this great mass of water sinks down again, 

 spreading in every direction around, until at 

 length it rolls its waves upon every shore, which 

 on attaining the highest point to which they 

 ordinarily extend, produce the phenomenon of 

 high tide. When again the waters are " ga- 

 thered into an heap," to use the beautiful and 

 accurate expression of the word of God, they 

 become withdrawn from our shores ; and it is 

 then low water. How sublime the reflection, 

 as we retire from this advancing tide, these 



