1853] 



VARIATIONS IN THE LEVEL OF THE LAKES. 



27 



hsd fallen 12 inches; 9th, it had fallen 4 inches; on the 22nd, 9 

 inches; 12th, 14 inches. It will continue falling till November, 

 and sometimes well on in December; it will then remain station- 

 ary till a short time before the breaking up of the ice." 



In answer to an enquiry we made some short time since of Mr. 

 Geo. Thompson respecting the height of the Lakes this year, 

 we were informed — 



" That the water here on the 7th June, was 8 inches higher 

 than in 1S52, making it full 4 feet 2 inches lrgher than in 

 1848. It began to fall on the 13th of June; on the 19th it had 

 fallen 1\ inches; on the 11th July 5 inches; on the 21st 

 6 inches; on the 29th 1\ inches; onj the 4th August 9 inches; 

 and to-day 10|- inches nearly; — it is, consequently, about 2£ 

 inches below the years 1836 and 1852 — at present. Its usual 

 time for commencing to fall is from the 1st to the 10th Jul}', 

 whereas it had fallen 1 inch on the 13th June." 



Observations made at the Queen's 



Wharfs Toronto, under the direction #/ 







Captain Lefroy, K-A. 







1849. 







1852. 







March 14th, 1 









May 10th, 



9 



V/Z 



•' 24th, 1 



V4. 





15th, 



3 



*>% 



" 26th, 1 



3 





18th, 



3 



7 



" 1 



4 





" 20th, 



3 



IK 



April 4th, 1 



6 





" 29th, 



3 



8" 



9th, 1 



8 





June 3rd, 



3 



8 



" 10th, 1 



10 





7th, 



3 



7 



" 30th, 1 



11 





" 12th, 



3 



11 



May 2nd, 1 



11 





" 14th, 



4 



0>< 



6th, 2 



3 





" 29th, 



3 



11 " 



7th, 2 



1 





" 30th, 



4 



1 Highest 



" 14 th, 1 



11 





July 5th, 



3 



11 



" 21st, 2 



2 





" 13th, 



4 







« 2 



4 





21st, 



3 



10 



July 3rd, 2 



5 





Aug. 19th, 



3 



5 



August 5th, 1 



11 





Sept 6th, 



3 



2 



15th, 1 



8 





" 30th, 



2 



10 



Sept. 20th, 1 



6 





Nov. 18th, 



2 



6 



Oct. 25th, 



3 Lowest 



" 24th, 



2 



7 



Nov. 31st, 1 



9 





Dec. 17th, 



2 



9 Wind. 



Dec. 20th, 1 



1 











These have always been taken on calm days, with one or two 

 exceptions. 



Mr. Dade recorded that, on July 1st, 1836, the water in per- 

 fect calm stood within 3 feet of the top of the Queen's Wharf. 

 If so, it stood eight inches higher than it did on June 30, 1852, 

 and about the same height as in June 1st, 1853. 

 Observations made at Oorrie's Wharf by Mr. G. A. Stewart. 



Month of June. 



Month of Jult. 



Month of August 



p 



o I'S , ri 



a ■ 



-V 



t4 



- 



2 



3 

 



tn 







•5 « 

 WPS 





>> 

 cd 



=1 



*1 



p 

 



w 





•■3 C 



5% 



1 



9 1 ,<a.m.4.73 



E 



3 P.M 



4.50 



E 



1 



4 P. M. 



3.99 



E 



■" 



2 p. sr. 472 



E 



4 



9Ka-m. 



4.50 



S W 



2 



12 noon. 



4 00 





2 



9 a. it 4.68 



E 



5 



10 A.M. 



4.4fi 



ST 



3 



5 P. M. 



4.00 



E 



" 



i^ p. it 4.68 



E 



6 



9>rfA.M. 



4.37 



ST 



5 



12noon. 



3.95 





3 



9>.< a. m. 4.68 



S¥ 



7 



12 noon. 



4.40 



S 



7 



4 F. If. 



3.96 





4 



10 a.m. 4.64 



S E 



li; 



12 noon. 



4.15 



S 



8 



4 P. M. 



3.93 





6 



9K a.m. 4.68 



SE 



is 



11 A. M. 



4.25 



s 



10 



4 P. M. 



3.90 





7 



9!? a.m. 4,60 



W 



'211 



12}.<P-M. 



4.17 



w 



12 



12uoou. 



3.86 





11 



9X a. it 4.66 



E 



23 



10 AM. 



4.1.3 



S¥ 



1.-. 



12 noou. 



3.85 



SE 



16 



11 a. m. 4.70 



Calm. 



27 



12 noon. 



4.05 



s 



Hi 



12 noon. 



3.81 



SE 



17 



IO^am.4.62 



S W 



30 



11 A. M. 



4.00 



S E 



18 



11 A. >. 



3.80 





20 



914 a. m. 4.59 



S W 











20 



4 P. M. 



3.82 





23 



9% A. m.4.60 



s w 











23 



10 A. M 



3.6(1 





24 



12 noon. 4.55 



w 











25 



9 A. M. 



360 





25 



9^ a. m.|4.43 



N W 











27 



12 noon. 



3.60 





28 



9>.< A. m. 4.50 



E 











■211 



12noon.J3.40 





3d 



9 a.m.|1.54 



S W 











31 



22 p. M.13.40 





West door of the Custom House, and corresponds with the scale on the 

 Queen's Wharf, established by Capt Lefroy. 



We reserve for the next number of the Journal other data con- 

 nected with the variations of the level of the lakes, as well as the 

 discussion of the inferences which may be drawn from them. 

 Meanwhile, we call attention to the following interesting paper, by 

 Colonel Jackson, which has been widely circulated in manuscript, 

 (in 1847,) but which has not yet, as far as we are aware, ap- 

 peared in any accessible publication. It is addressed to the 

 Royal Geographical Society. 



These observations are taken from a scale established at Gorrie's 

 Wharf. The zero of which scale is left below the sill of the South 



On the Seiches of Lakes, by Co). J. R. Jackson, F. R. G. S., 

 St. Fetersbiirgh. 



The Lake Leman, or of Geneva, has been long remarkable for 

 a phenomenon known by the name of Seiches, and which has 

 been considered peculiar to this lake : it consists of a kind of ebb 

 and flow of the waters of the lake, in certain parts, without wind 

 or any other apparent cause. While the phenomenon lasts, the 

 waters are seen to rise and fall several times in the course of a few 

 hours. These oscillations, more or less considerable, sometimes 

 attain the height of 5 feet, though the general maximum seldom 

 exceeds 2 feet: in the greater number of cases, the rise is confined 

 to a few inches, the minimum being 0. 



The Seiches of the Lake of Geneva, were observed in the 

 beginning of the last century, by Fatio de Duilliers, who has 

 given a description of them in a Memoire inserted in the 2nd 

 volume of Spon's " Histoire de Geneve." Shortly after Professor 

 Jallabert made mention of them in the " Memoires de FAcademie 

 des Sciences." And more lately Mr. Serre in the " Journal des 

 Savans;" Professor Bertrand, in an academical dissertation, not 

 printed; as also de Saussure in the 1st Volume of his "Voyao-e 

 aux Alps," have successively described this singular phenomenon. 



Nothing, however, having been explained in a satisfactory 

 manner, I wrote, some months since, to a learned Professor of 

 Geneva, on the subject, proposing questions, the answers to which 

 I hoped might throw sopie light on the nature of a fact which I 

 apprehended to be by rio means peculiar to the lake of Geneva, 

 and I have reason-to congratulate myself that the result of this 

 step has been the publication of an able and detailed memoir on 

 the subject by Professor Vaucher, which memoir had been written 

 many years before, and which, in all probability, would never 

 have been printed, but at the instigation of Professor Maurice, to 

 whom I had written, and who, with that readiness which dis- 

 tinguishes the real lover of science, interested himself immediately 

 in the subject. 



From Professor Vaucher's memoir, a 4-to of 60 pages, written 

 in French, so far back as the years 1803-4 it appears: — 



lsthj, That the Seiches of the Lake of Geneva are much more 

 frequent lhan is generally imagined. 



2ndly, That they happen at all seasons of the year arid at all 

 hours of the day ; but that they are, generally speaking, most 

 frequent in the Spring and in the Autumn. 



Zr&ly, That the state of the atmosphere seems to have a 

 decided influence, it being remarked, that in proportion as that 

 state is less changeable, so are the Seiches less frequent, and vice 

 versa. The Seiches have always been " considerable'' (query as 

 to frequency or magnitude?) when the atmosphere has been 

 loaded with heavy clouds, or when the weather, in other respects 

 severe, has threatened to be stormy, and when the barometer has 

 sunk. 



Athly, That although the seiches are more frequent in the Spring 



