THE TIDES AND TIDAL ROTATION 81 



will appear from the following quotations from recog- 

 nized authorities : 



"In fact the statical theory (of tides) be- 

 comes utterly unsatisfactory in regard to what 

 actually takes place, and it is necessary to de- 

 pend almost entirely on the results of obser- 

 vation, using the theory merely as a guide in 

 the discussion of the observations." 1 



"The establishment of a port is the mean 

 interval between the time of high water at that 

 port and the next preceding passage of the 

 moon across that meridian. At New York, 

 for instance, this establishment is 8 h. 13 m. 

 although the actual interval varies about 22 

 minutes on each side of the mean at different 

 times of the month.." 2 



Interpreted, this means that according to current 

 theory the moon's effect follows 8 hours in her wake ; ac- 

 cording to mine she "brings her knitting with her." 



"It is interesting to reflect that our tides 

 today depend even more on what occurred yes- 

 terday or the day before in the Southern Pa- 

 cific and Indian oceans than on the direct 

 action of the moon today * * * the prob- 

 lem is one of insoluble mystery." 3 



"The equilibrium theory is nearly as much 

 wrong as possible in respect to the time of high 

 water. In fact in many places it is nearly low 

 water at the time the equilibrium theory pre- 

 dicts high water. It would seem then as if the 

 tidal action of the moon was actually to repel 



1 Young's General Astronomy, page 307. 



2 Ibid, page 403. 



3 The Tides, page 188, Geo. H. Darwin. 



