398 FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE 



ing the earth's meridian; that mountain is, as it were, laid 

 hold of b J the moon ; it forms a kind of handle by which 

 the earth is pulled more quickly round. But when the 

 meridian is passed the pull of the moon on the mountain 

 would be in the opposite direction, it would tend to di- 

 minish the velocity of rotation as much as it previously 

 augmented it; thus the action of all fixed bodies on the 

 earth's surface is neutralized. But suppose the mountain 

 to lie always to the east of the moon's meridian, the pull 

 then would be always exerted against the earth's rotation, 

 the velocity of which would be diminished in a degree 

 corresponding to the strength of the pull. The tidal wave 

 occupies this position — it lies always to the east of the 

 moon's meridian. The waters of the ocean are in part 

 dragged as a brake along the surface of the earth; and as 

 a brake they must diminish the velocity of the earth's 

 rotation.* Supposing then that we turn a mill by the ac- 

 tion of the tide, and produce heat by the friction of the 

 millstones; that heat has an origin totally different from 

 the heat produced by another mill which is turned by a 

 mountain stream. The former is produced at the expense 

 of the earth's rotation, the latter at the expense of the 

 sun's radiation. 



The sun, by the act of vaporization, lifts mechanically 

 all the moisture of our air, which, when it condenses, falls 

 in the form of rain, and when it freezes falls as snow. In 

 this solid form it is piled upon the Alpine heights, and 

 furnishes materials for glaciers. But the sun again inter- 

 poses, liberates the solidified liquid, and permits it to roll 

 by gravity to the sea. The mechanical force of every 



> Kant surmised an action of this kind. 



