60 THE YEAR. 



orbit round the sun. The new moon would, in that 

 case, have the same declination with the sun, and the 

 full moon as much, but on the other side of the equa- 

 tor ; so that if the upper tide at new moon revolved 

 round any parallel, the under one would revolve round 

 one as far distant from the equator on the other side. 

 Thus, the two high waters in the course of the day 

 would be twice the declination asunder in northing 

 and southing, which at the midsummer would be 

 more than 3,000 miles asunder ; or, taking them in 

 the Atlantic, the one tide would be as far south as Rio 

 de Janeiro in Brazil, and the other as far north as 

 the Havannah in Cuba. If, therefore, it should be new 

 moon near midsummer, in either hemisphere, the tide 

 in the evening would be much higher than that in the 

 morning ; but if full moon, the morning tide would be 

 the higher ; and at midwinter the circumstances would 

 be reversed. As there is a fractional number of luna- 

 tions, or revolutions of the moon, in the course of the 

 year, sometimes the new moon happens nearest the 

 solstice, sometimes the full, and sometimes they are 

 equally distant ; and every variation in their occurrence 

 tends to produce a difference in the weather, and con- 

 sequently in the season ; but the separation of the local 

 from the general causes is so very difficult, that no par- 

 ticular conclusion can be drawn. 



It is obvious, however, that the tides in the ocean 

 and the atmosphere cannot but be less when the 

 morning and evening ones are three thousand miles 

 asunder, which is fully half the distance that occa- 

 sions the neap tide, than when they are on the same 

 parallel. The change of declination is at the same 



