298 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
water of low neap tides and high water of high spring tides, an 
amount which it usually takes seven days and fourteen tides to 
accomplish by successive increasements ; but which, in this case, 
was done at one bound. 
On going over the tide-books at Leith for as far back as time 
has permitted, I find that during the last eighteen years there 
have been ninety tides, or five per annum, which reached the level 
of 25 feet on the Victoria Dock cill. Of these only two tides have 
been so high as 26 feet, viz. — the morning tide of October 26, 
1865, and the morning tide of January 29, 1850. The latter tide 
reached the height of 26 feet 8 inches, or 2 inches lower than the 
one of the 8th ult. 
A very high rise of tide is recorded on several of the charts as 
having taken place on July 18, 1829 ; but, on looking at Keid’s 
Commercial List for July 21, 1829, I find that on the day recorded 
on the charts the tide was a very ordinary one, only rising 2 inches 
higher than was expected, and being exceeded by those following. 
So that there is some mistake which makes this high tide very 
doubtful, to say the least. 
I have prepared a diagram of the height of high water at Leith 
for a tidal month, which shows the extraordinary state of oscilla- 
tion in which the tides have been during the late boisterous 
weather. It will be observed that from the 11th to the 24th 
January the tides were all above the calculated height. On the 
24th — the day of the great gale in Scotland— the wind went vio- 
lently round to the south, and immediately the tides fell to more 
than 2 feet below their proper height, rising again as the wind 
went back to the west. After a fortnight of most unusual oscilla- 
tion, the tide rose on the 8th February, with the turn of the wind 
to the north, to the unprecedented height alluded to in the paper. 
I regret that I cannot give a diagram of the low waters for the 
same period, which would have been very valuable and instructive ; 
but at Leith, as at many other ports, no regular record is kept of 
the low waters. 
The height of the tidal wave of the 8th, when it had reached the 
mouth of the Tyne, in Northumberland, was much the same as at 
Leith — a little less, however, as might be expected from the con- 
figuration of the coast. 
The height of high water in Shields 
