144 THE OCEAN. [Book V. 



fourteen points of the compass, the diurnal change in 

 the action of the force resulting from onward motion 

 would be less in proportion as the direction of the 

 motion more nearly coincided with the line of the 

 poles. If the line of motion coincided exactly with 

 the line of the poles there would then be no varia- 

 tions whatever in the action of the force resultino; 

 from that onward motion ; but its action throughout 

 the year, both by day and night, would be north- 

 wards through mid-ocean and southwards along the 

 shores. 



In the ocean, effects in accordance with the action 

 theoretically resulting from an onward motion of the 

 earth indicate a motion southwards ; and variations 

 both annual and diurnal appear to indicate that, 

 thouofh the line of motion does not coincide with the 

 line of the poles, the divergence of those lines is not 

 very great. 



The action of vis-inertia3 resulting from the onward 

 motion of the earth appears to be indicated in the 

 Atlantic by a greater tendency of the currents in 

 mid-ocean to run northwards, and of those along 

 the coasts to run southwards, than accords with the 

 action of vis-inertise which results from the axial 

 rotation of the earth. For instance, the current 

 which diverges northwards from the equator in mid- 

 ocean under the action of axial rotation, as before de- 

 scribed, we have found to be clearly recorded ; wliereas 



