82 FROM NEBULA TO NEBULA 



the water instead of attracting it, and we are 

 driven to ask whether this result can possibly 

 be consistent with the theory of universal grav- 

 itation." 1 



"In fact, the evanescence of the diurnal in- 

 equality is not much closer to the truth than 

 the large inequality predicted by the equilib- 

 rium theory; and both theories must be aban- 

 doned as satisfactory explanations of the true 

 condition of affairs." 2 



It may seem strange that a force many times greater 

 than another, and exactly reversed, should be seriously 

 proposed as a substitute to explain, not only qualita- 

 tively but quantitatively, precisely the same phenomena. 

 But the vagary is not mine. According to Dr. Young, 3 

 the moon's tidal action, as based on current theory, is 

 only l/8,640,000th of the earth's gravity and the sun's 

 only 1 /19,600,000th thereof, preposterously inadequate 

 to cause the actual phenomena, as may be convincingly 

 shown. Thus, the mean depth of the ocean is said to be 

 13,000 feet, which, when reduced to inches and then di- 

 vided respectively by the denominators above given, will 

 yield approximately .02 and .009 inches respectively as 

 the measure of the tide raising force of the moon and 

 the sun as compared to the ocean depth ! In other 

 words, the sun's tidal power suffices to elevate the ocean 

 level only by the thickness of a mere film, or of a leaf 



1 The Tides, page 161. 



2 Ibid, page 180. 



3 General Astronomy, Arts. 464 and 465, 



