22 THE TIDES; 



The height to which the tide rises at any given 

 place is not always the same; it changes every 

 day; and., as you well know, this change is con- 

 nected with the phases of the moon. At the 

 times of the new moon and of the full moon the 

 flood rises higher, and the fall of the ebb is greater 

 than at others : this increase is called the Spring- 

 tide. During the first and last quarters of the 

 moon, the ebb and flow are least. For instance, 

 at Brest there are only eight feet of water at the 

 lowest (or Neap-) tides, where at the spring-tides 

 there are nineteen. However, the highest tides do 

 not come exactly with the full and new moons, 

 nor the lowest exactly with the quarters, but they 

 always happen somewhat later. At Brest for 

 instance, the highest spring-tides follow about a day 

 and a half after the new moon and full moon. 

 There is always an increase of the spring-tides at 

 the equinoxes. Eclipses of the moon and of the 

 sun are always accompanied by tides much higher 

 than usual. It is also remarked that the tides are 

 stronger or weaker, according as the moon, whose 

 distance from us, as you know, is always changing, 

 comes nearer to, or is removed farther from, the 

 earth. 



When storms happen at the same time with the 

 regular equinoctial tides, which are always very 

 high, and when, as is very often the case, the sea 

 is driven by the gale upon the land, we have a 



