Mr. Redfield’s Remarks on Tides. 295 
neutral position, situated in mid ocean, somewhere between 18° 
and 26° north latitude, as had been suggested at an earlier period.* 
A like question arises in regard to the tide-waves of both the 
North and South Pacific. 'The inquiry is therefore presented, 
whether the tidal wave in the North Pacific ocean does not move 
in a circuit, around a central position not greatly distant from the 
Sandwich Islands, the wave moving westerly in mid ocean in 
the intertropical or equatorial latitudes and easterly in the higher 
latitudes; and whether the tide-wave of the South Pacific does 
not follow a like course, around a central point or position at or 
near 'l'ahita or the Society Islands. If this view of the course of 
the tide-waves should be sustained by observations in the Pacific, 
the tide-wave on the western coast of North America will be 
found moving southeastward, and together with the counter- 
wave from the South Pacific, might fully account for the extra- 
ordinary convergence and height of the tides in the Bay of Pa- 
nama. Such a system of revolution in the tidal waves of the 
great oceans may account, also, for the absence of any considera- 
ble tides at the Sandwich and Society Islands, and at the Wind- 
ward Islands of the Antilles. 
Such circuits of revolution in the tides, would bear some anal- 
ogy to those which, as I apprehend, are exhibited in the system 
of currents in the several oceans, as well asin the system of 
general winds, which likewise prevail. These systems of rev- 
olution and compensation, in the currents of the aqueous and aeri- 
al oceans, I have ventured to refer directly to the law of gravita- 
tion, as connected with unstable equilibrium and with the rotary 
and orbital movements of the several zones and meridians of the 
earth’s surface. 
As connected with the enquiry on tides, it is important to as- 
certain the direction of the main stream of flood tide in the offing, 
at the several islands and prominent headlands which are most 
exempt from the local influences of reefs and shallows. 
CURRENTS OF THE ATLANTIC. 
The great system of aqueous circulation, which appears to be 
developed under various modifications in the several oceans on 
* See note in Silliman’s Journal for Oct. 1833, Vol xxv, p. 132. 
t The law of equilibrium in our system, I apprehend, is a law of motion, not of 
rest. 
