80 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



We have, however, provided a means whereby, by the 

 simple turning of a switch, we can turn into or out of 

 M a current of gravity at will. We turn the current on, 

 then, and watch E closely for results. Gradually, as 

 M's gravity grows, we first detect a slight stir on the 

 part of F/s kernel, and then, behold, it begins to sink, 

 and keeps on sinking through the water toward M till 

 it rests on the inner surface of the ice crust. (Fig. II). 

 In other words, the tide produced by M on E has re- 

 sulted in depressing, instead of lifting, the intervening 

 water. Again, let us turn on the discharging switch 

 so that M will gradually lose its lately acquired power ; 

 there can then be no doubt that E will as gradually 

 resume its original state. In this condition let us 

 imagine E back again to its primitive isolation, and. then 

 conceive of the ball M, this time endowed normally with 

 the power of gravitation, approaching E from a great 

 distance. It is plain that since by supposition M now 

 possesses gravitational power, the nearer it gets to E 

 the more its effect on that body will become apparent, 

 so that we shall witness a repetition of precisely the 

 same chain of tidal phenomena as in the previous 

 example; that is, the kernel of E will slowly push 

 through its envelope of water in the direction of M, 

 thus producing a LOW tide on the side presented to M, 

 Avhich is the very reverse of Newton's theory. 



The conclusion is inevitable then that tides are 

 caused by a depression and not by an elevation of the 

 ocean under the tide-producing body. 



This result certainly comports better with the ob- 

 served facts, and when applied to the multifarious com- 

 plexities of tidal phenomena will be found to work out 

 vastly better. That the subject has heretofore, under 

 the Newtonian theory, been one of science's betes noires 



