MISCELLANEOUS PROBLEMS 137 



Judging from terrestrial analogy it should rather be 

 marine and amphibian in character, on account of the 

 difficulty of lung-breathing; and moreover, it should be 

 confined to the arctic regions because of the insupport- 

 able torridity of Venus's lower latitudes. 



TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM 



By substituting in theory tides of depression for 

 lifting tides, we not only gain in frictional effect, but 

 we likewise transpose the locus of it to the floors of the 

 oceans instead of to their coasts. On the other hand, I 

 have given reasons to justify the deduction that the 

 metals, being the heaviest substances, are mainly cen- 

 trally located within the earth, and ranged along its 

 axis. The semblance of the earth, therefore, to a helix 

 and core, taken in connection with the dynamical effect 

 of the tides, leads easily and naturally to the conclusion 

 that the earth's magnetism is tide-induced. If added 

 proof be demanded, it is to be found in the remarkable 

 coincidence of the magnetic needle's variations with 

 those of the diurnal movements of the sun and moon, 

 and, quite as remarkable, with the change of seasons as 

 well. Indeed, on careful investigation it will be found 

 that whenever the water is severely shaken in the ocean 

 bowl, from tides or any other cause ( by solar explosions, 

 for instance, which temporarily unbalance the earth as 

 well as all other bodies in the system), electrical phe- 

 nomena are certain to follow. Heretofore, attempts 

 have been made to connect the needle's variations with 

 the fluctuations of the solar radiation, but unsuccess- 

 fully, because of the conflicting fact that the moon, 

 whose radiation is comparatively nil, has been found to 

 exercise a similar magnetic influence rivaling the sun's 

 own. Orthodox astronomy has not dared to broach 

 this tidal explanation, because it would involve an inad- 



