17 



CHAPTER 11. 



EFFECTS OF THE EARTH's AXIAL ROTATION. 



PART I. 



GENERAL EFFECTS. 



Since the motion of the earth's surface round its axis 

 is from west to east, any existing action of vis- 

 inertise must therefore, according to the foregoing 

 illustration, tend to cause the water which lies on the 

 surface to move along that surface from east to west. 

 That is — a pressure is created acting in the opposite 

 direction to that in which the surface of the earth is 

 moving, giving the water a tendency to stream round 

 the earth from east to west. 



This westward pressure, imparted to the ocean 

 by the rotation of the earth eastwards on its axis, 

 is obviously a fixed and unchanging influence ; for 

 the earth is constantly rotating at the same rate and 

 in the same direction round its axis of rotation. 



And, since the speed at which the surface of the 

 earth rotates at the equator is more than a thousand 

 miles an hour and at the poles nothmg, all interme- 

 diate gradations of speed lying evenly between the 



c 



