Abstract
WHEN a man of unequivocal scientific eminence lays aside the technicalities which have assisted him along the path of important investigations, and attempts to reveal as much as may be of his subject to the wide public who cannot understand mathematical processes, the result is certain to be at least interesting. And especially is this so in the case of a subject at once so fascinating and so perplexing as that of the tides. A phenomenon of such evident significance in the economy of the globe, of such important influence on the interests of maritime communities, must necessarily have been under observation from the earliest times. Naturally the conscientious pre-Newtonian philosopher could not do more than recognise a more or less indefinite connection between the periodic alternations of sea-level and the positions of the moon and sun. And if his mind happened to be of that type which trusts more readily to speculation than to accurate observation, his theories were even less enlightened in a corresponding degree. Even after the genius of Newton had laid a foundation of rational hypothesis, the theory which remained with little modification or development until a comparatively short time ago, was one which on many essential points was absolutely contradicted by facts. Now this is the theory of which a rather inadequate description is included in some popular works on astronomy, whose most conspicuous failing in general is that they attempt to cover a far wider range than is really practicable. However that may be, a short chapter in a work of this character was practically the only place where information on tidal phenomena was to be found in a popular form, with the exception, of course, of Lord Kelvin's admirable popular lectures. In consequence, the subject of the tides is perhaps the one about which, more than any other, the most widespread misapprehension exists, even among persons who are otherwise fairly well informed. The present work therefore fills a manifest need, and Prof. Darwin is certainly right in thinking “that there are many who would like to understand the tides, and will make the attempt to do so, provided the exposition be sufficiently simple and clear.” His dictum, that “a mathematical argument is, after all, only organised common sense,” is indisputable, but so far from making the task undertaken in any way easier, it really emphasises the enormous difficulty. But Prof. Darwin has avowedly taken pains to render an intricate subject intelligible, and it will probably be generally agreed that he has achieved an unqualified success.
The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System.
By Prof. G. H. Darwin, Plumian Professor of Astronomy, Cambridge. Pp. xviii + 342. (London: John Murray, 1898.)
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P., W. The Tides and Kindred Phenomena in the Solar System. Nature 59, 219–221 (1899). https://doi.org/10.1038/059219a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/059219a0
