MOON'S DECLINATION CONSIDERED. 23 



It is not necessary to enter into a detailed examination 

 of the state of things at intermediate places. It is not 

 difficult to see that, as long as the moon's declination is 

 small, there will be an accumulation effected by the me- 

 ridional component extending from the equator to about 

 lat. 45, and that, as the moon's declination increases, the 

 accumulation becomes less at the equator and greater 

 towards 45, until the declination reaches 45. With a 

 declination greater than 45 there would be an accumu- 

 lation at the poles; and obviously, if the moon were at 

 the pole, the ocean would take the form of a prolate 

 spheroid. 



The place of high water at any latitude, as far as 

 this is due to the meridional component, would be easily 

 found ; but the proportionate effect of the meridional 

 and equatorial components depends partly on the latitude 

 and partly on the moon's declination ; and it does not 

 come within the scope of the present essay to solve this 

 problem. It is sufficient to observe that the importance 

 of the meridional component increases with the declination 

 as well as with the latitude. If the moon were at the 

 pole this force would be alone ; and, whatever the declina- 

 tion, it alone produces an effect at the pole. 



The same reasoning applies, mutatis mutandis, to the 

 solar tide. 



It was remarked, on p. 10, that the disturbing force is 

 slightly greater on the side nearer the moon than on the 

 remoter side. The effect of this inequality is to produce 

 a small diurnal tide. 



