Publisher's Synopsis
This monograph is an attempt to uphold the claims of the equilibrium theory of the tides as opposed to those of the dynamical theory now generally maintained. It is seldom possible to return to older scientific hypotheses which are of so general a nature and have been superseded, and it is impossible here.
The gist of the matter is contained in a statement by Sir George Airy, which the author quotes on page 72-"Suppose now that the water assumed the form which we have found, and that the earth revolves within its coating of water. This supposition, absurd as it is, is the only one upon which it is possible to apply the equilibrium theory." The author, following Moxly, denies the truth of this statement, and states that the equilibrium theory assumes that it is only the form and not the mass of the water which is fixed relatively to the moon. But if the form only be fixed (as must be assumed), then the particles of water are in relative oscillatory motion, and the tidal wave is a species of oscillation (an idea to which Moxly greatly objected, page 83)-a forced oscillation, the characteristics of which therefore depend partly on the nature of the free oscillations, and the problem is essentially dynamical.
The author seems to labour under some misconceptions of the dynamical theory in thinking, for instance, that it implies impossible ocean currents, and that the tidal crest must be 90 behind the moon (pages 8 and 9).
However, the book is a very clear exposition of the principles of the equilibrium theory, and claims to explain in general terms a number of anomalous tides; but sometimes one fails to see why the same explanation cannot hold good on the dynamical theory. The note on the tides in the Bay of Fundy (pages 88 and 89) is interesting.
-Nature, Volume 87 [1911]
