1864.] 



Mr. P. E. Chase on Aerial Tides. 



329 



He has also demonstrated by injection that a network similar to the one 

 just described is present in the web-membrane of the pectoral fin of the 

 perch. The lung of the toad also exhibits a modification of the plasmatic 

 network in the form of extremely fine hollow processes, which either stretch 

 completely across the mesh from capillary to capillary, or terminate in 

 finely pointed or blunt extremities among the epithelia or nuclei which 

 stud the membrane of the air-vesicle. 



In the proper epithelial portion of the skin of batrachians or of mammals, 

 the author has not yet been able to prove distinctly that the plexuses are 

 to be found, but he has been so far successful in this direction as to have 

 displayed them satisfactorily in the follicles and bulbs of the whisker hairs 

 of the mole, mouse, and kitten. From certain observations, however, which 

 cannot here be detailed, he thinks it more than probable, not only that 

 plasma-networks are present in the epithelial layer of the batrachian skin,, 

 but also in a corresponding part of the human cutis. 



With regard to the offices performed by these networks, the author 

 thinks it probable that all those found in the epidermal or mucous tissues 

 are intimately connected with the function of secretion, and in a minor 

 degree also perhaps with that of absorption ; while those situated in the 

 deeper parts of the organism, such as muscle and fibrous tissue, are employed 

 in conveying blood-plasma to, and effete matters from, the tissues through 

 which they pass or with which they may be in contact. 



XI. "Aerial Tides.'' By Pliny Earle Chase, A.M., S.P.A.S. 

 Communicated by Major-General Sabine, Pres. U.S. Received 

 June 16, 1864. 



The remarkable coincidence which I have pointed out* between the 

 theoretical effects of rotation and the results of barometrical observations, 

 has led me to extend my researches with a view of defining more precisely 

 some of the most important effects of lunar action on the atmosphere. The 

 popular belief in the influence of the moon on the weather, which antedates 

 all historical records, has received at various times a certain degree of phi- 

 losophical sanction. Herschel and others have attempted partially to for- 

 mulate that influence by empirical laws, but the actual character of the 

 lunar wave that is daily rolled over our heads, appears never to have been 

 investigated. 



Major-General Sabine has shown that the moon produces a diurnal varia-^ 

 tion of the barometer, amounting to about '006 of an inch at St. Helena, 

 which is nearly equivalent to ^-^ of the average daily variation (Phil. Trans. 

 1847, Art. v.). This would indicate a tidal wave of rather more than 

 1 ft. for each mile that we ascend above the earth's surface, or from 3 to 6 ft. 

 near the summits of the principal mountain-chains. It is easy to believe 

 that the rolling of such a wave over the broken surface of the earth may 

 * See Proceedings of Amer. Philos. Soc. vol. ix. p. 283. 



