The phenomena of tides, which prevail in all seas (with the
exception of the smaller ones that are completely closed in, and where the
ebbing and flowing waves are scarcely or not at all perceptible), have been
perfectly explained by the Newtonian doctrine, and thus brought "within the
domain of necessary facts." Each of these periodically-recurring
oscillations of the waters of the sea has a duration of somewhat more than
half a day. Although in the open sea they scarcely attain an elevation of a
few feet, they often rise considerably higher where the waves are opposed by
the configuration of the shores, as for instance, at St. Malo and in Nova
Scotia, where they reach the respective elevation of 50 feet, and of 65 to
70 feet. "It has been shown by the analysis of the great geometrician
Laplace, that, supposing the depth to be wholly inconsiderable when compared
with the radius of the earth, the stability of the equilibrium of the sea
requires that the density of its fluid should be less than that of the
earth; and, as we have already seen, the earth's density is in fact five
times greater than that of water. The elevated parts of the land can not
therefore be overflowed, nor can the remains of marine animals found on the
summits of mountains have been conveyed to those localities by any previous
high tides.
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