Mr. G. P. Bond of Cambridge, by some investigations to ascertain
whether the Attraction of the Moon has any effect upon the motion of
a pendulum, and consequently upon the rate of a clock, has found the
last to be changed to the amount of 9/1000 of a second daily. At
the equator the moon’s attraction changes the weight of a body only
1/7000000 of the whole; yet this force is sufficient to produce the
vast phenomena of the tides!
It is no slight evidence of the importance of analysis, that Laplace’s
perfect theory of tides has enabled us in our astronomical ephemerides
to predict the height of spring-tides at the periods of new and full
moon, and thus put the inhabitants of the sea on their guard against
the increased danger attending the lunar revolutions.