528 EFFECTS OF WIND UPON THE HEIGHT & VELOCITY OF THE WAVE. 
til ultimately the two lesser were absorb- 
ed by the greater, and disappeared 
altogether, was unexpected, and sur- 
prisingly exact. The manner in which 
the wave changed its form, piqueing 
more and more up, as its height beca>n3 
greater and greater, in proportion to 
the depth of the canal, until at length, 
upon a shelving bottom, the form ended 
in the surge of breaker — the manner in 
which this explained every minute 
familiar phenomenon, called forth re- 
peated applause ; and we would particu- 
larize the curved form of the surge along 
the coast, as by the course marking the 
equal depth of the bottom below the 
surface, as soon as that depth reached 
the surging limit ; also the circumstance 
that the surge frequently made its 
appearance first at one particular point, 
and then ran off in a kind oi ftu, dejoie^ 
sometimes in only one direction along 
the curved lines of surging depth, some- 
times in both directions ; these, and 
many other particulars, which we find 
it impossible to insist on, met with the 
most minute explanation. 
The Rev. Mr. Scoresby, better known 
to our readers as Captain Scoresby, beti- 
ged leave to ask Mr. Russell whether 
in waves generated in the deep ocean, 
as in the Atlanjfic, this explanation 
would not lead us to infer a velocity of 
the wave greater than that of a cannon 
ball. He also begged to suggest to him 
the consideration of the effecc of deep 
indentations upon the coast, on the 
waves ; he had known, and he described 
some instances, where the indented 
form of the coast had a tranquillizing ef- 
fect upon the waves of the sea outside, 
so as fiequently to produce almost still 
water. — Mr. Lubbock put several ques- 
tions to Mr. Russell, for the purpose of 
eliciting information and explanation 
upon topics, on which, from the rapidi- 
ty with which the interesting results 
succeeded each other, he had not receiv- 
ed full satisfaction. He felt peculiar 
interest in this question, from its direct 
bearing upon the tides, a subject to 
which he had latterly much devoted 
himself; he asked Mr. Russell, whe- 
ther any of his experiments had been 
conducted in covered canals, of whether 
he had observed any facts connected 
with the effect of the wind, either upon 
the height or upon the time of propaga- 
tion of the wave. — Mr. Russell stated, 
as we understood him, that he had not 
used covered canals; that he had noted 
several of the effects of wind upon both 
the height and velocity of the wave, but 
he had only time to note these very 
roughly, but these effects were both con- 
siderable and important, and he was 
even led to expect, that by this influence 
wdll at length be explained among 
other interesting effects, the surging of 
the waves in deep seas, which takes 
place in consequence of the form of the 
wave being changed into one piqueing 
up at the top. Mr. Roberts inquired 
what means of measuring time Mr- Rus- 
sell employed, and to what part of a 
second he could observe? — Mr. Russell 
replied, that he chiefly used ship chro- 
nometers, and that he never tried to 
come nearer than half a second; in that 
time, as he had in the course of the pa- 
per observed, the ordinary wave of the 
experimental canal he used, progressed 
about six feet. 
Mr. W he well observed, that experi- 
ments had, in some instances, borne the 
most ample testimony to the correctness 
of the theory of this intricate portion of 
hydrodynamics ; although, in the greater 
number of instances, by outstripping 
that theory, it exhibited the deplorable 
state of dificiency in which it still exist- 
ed. The learned Professor congratulated 
the Section upon the prospect which 
now brightened before them, for he had 
little doubt but that these experimental 
results, in the hands of some expert, 
analyst, would at length conduct to an 
advance of the theory which in many 
branches of science would be of much 
importance. To himself, the obvious and 
very close connexion of these researches 
wdth the subject of the tides was matter 
of the most intense interest The learned 
gentleman then proceeded to particular- 
ize some leading and valuable examples 
of that connexion. The propagation of 
the great tide wave was a direct case of 
the propagation of the waves of the spe- 
cies, to the tracing of whose laws Mr. 
Russell had chiefly applied himself. 
And this led him directly to an answer 
to one of Mr. Scoreshy’s questions; for, 
since that tidal wave could be shown to 
he propagated from the Cape of Good 
Hope to the ports along the coasts of 
Spain in about twelve hours, surely here 
was an instance of propagation of 
these waves in deep waters, not only 
equalling, but far surpassing, the velo- 
city of a cannon ball. 
