Now we know that the more easily the Waters can obey the Attraction, with the more Force are the Tides moved; but since, as Mr. Halley has determin'd it,[23] our Atmosphere is extended to 45 Miles, whereas the middle depth of the Ocean is but about half a Mile; it is plain, that the Air revolving in a Sphere about 100 times larger than that of the Ocean, will have a proportionably greater Agitation.
Besides, Rocks, Shelves, and the inequality of Shoars are a great stop to the Access and Recess of the Sea: But nothing repels the rising Air, which is also of such thinness and fluidity, that it is easily driven, and runs every way.
Nor ought we to omit, that it is the universal Law of Bodies Attracted, that the Force of Attraction is reciprocally as the Squares of their Distances; so that the Action of the Sun and Moon will be greater upon the Air than upon the Water, upon the Account of its Nearness.
But the Consideration of the Elasticity is still of greater Moment here, of which this is the nature, that it is reciprocally as the Pressure, so that the incumbent Weight being diminished by the Attraction, the Air underneath will upon this score be mightily expanded.
These and such like Causes will make the Tides in the Air to be much greater than those of the Ocean; nor is it necessary to our purpose to determine, by nice Calculations, their particular Forces; it is sufficient to have proved that these Motions must both be Universal, and also return at certain Intervals.
Now since the raising of the Water of the Ocean 14 Feet, produces Torrents of such a prodigious Force, we may easily conceive what Tempests of Winds (if not otherwise check'd) the Elevation of the Air much higher (perhaps above a Mile) will necessarily cause. And there is no doubt to be made, but that the same infinitely Wise Being, who contrived the Flux and Reflux of the Sea, to secure that vast Collection of