Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/777

 TIDES /((I within tho space of 100 ft. in the ios(, contracted portion of Hell Onto oil' ll:il lott's I'oint. The entrance from Long Island sound is a. ii;il,nr:il depression OF arm of tllC sea which is nut, changed >y the forces now in operation. The, tidal currents which How through it, do not, change the channel, hut, are obliged to follow it in its tortuous course. Tin; S:mdy Hook entrance, on tho contrary, is characterized by u cordon of sands extending from Sandy Hook l,o ( loncy island, intersected hy channels, which an- maintained against the action of the sea, which tends to (ill them up, by tho scour of tho ebb tide from the tidal basin of New York harbor. Tho advance of Sandy Hook upon the ni:iin ship channel is among the, not,;i.hle, and important instances of the elfeet, of tidal currents; within a cent nry it has increased a mile and a, miarter. In the, place where the, heacon on tho end of the Hook now stands there was 40 ft. of water 15 years before, it. was built. Tho cause of this growth is a rem:irkable northwardly current along both shores of the Hook, running both during the, Hood iind the ebb tides with varying rates, mid resulting from those tides directly and in- directly. The hirst water over the bar is about 2 in. I 1 !, of Sandy Hook light, in a direct line with tlie Swash channel; the greatest depth over it is 22 ft. at mean low water, and the same depth can now be e.-irried through the, Swash rh;innel, which formerly was 3 ft. shal- lower, but, has deepened since tho cross sec- tion between the Hook and Klynn'H knoll lias been diminished by one third its area by the growth of the Hook. This relative change in tin 1 capacity of tho channels has not affected the depth on the outer bar, which, according to the principles above laid down, is dependent mainly upon tho area of tho tidal basin within. The. depth of 22 ft. at mean low water, which is now maintained at the entrance, through the sands constantly thrown up by the waves of the, sea, may be considered as depending upon the following elements: 1, tho large basin between Sa.ndy Hook and Staton island, inclu- ding Karii'in bay, which furnishes more than one, half of tho whole ebb scour; 2, what is called the Upper bay, including tho Jersey flats and Newark bay; 15, the, North river, perhaps as far as l)obbs Ferry, maintaining the head of the ebb (iirrent, although not directly taking part in the outflow ; and 4, a portion of tho sound tide, which flows in through Hell Gate. The proportion of the first three divisions in producing the depth of channel may bo approx- imately estimated by a comparison of the areas and di -.fauces from the bar. In order to main- tain the depth which we now have, it is im- portant, that the area of tho tidal basin should not be, encroached upon. In proportion as that is diminished the depth of tho channels will decrease. The flats, just bare at low wa- ter, but covered at high tide, form as impor- tant a part as any other portion, for it is ob- vioua that it is only tho volume of water con- 747 TIKCK tainod between tho planes of low and water, tho "tide prism," that does the work in MOOriag the channels. The water on the, Hats is especially useful by retarding the out How, thus allowing a greater difference of level to be reached bet ween t he, basin and t he ocean. The part, which the fourth division in mir clas silication of the basin of New York, that of the East river and Hell (late pa.v-ae, pluvs in I In-, out How of the ebb tide through the Handy Hook channels, depends Ic.ss upon the area in- volved than upon the difference in point of time and height of tide in Hell Cute already adverted to. The westerly current, usually called tho ebb stream since it falls in with tint ebb stream of New York harbor, taking place when the Hound tide is highest, starts from a level 8^ ft. higher than the easterly, and thus a much larger amount of water Hows out through the, Sandy Hook channels than through the narrows at Throg's Nock. It is apparent, then, that this portion of the ebb stream, ren for- cing tho ebb stream of the harbor proper at the, most favorable times, performs a most important part in maintaining the channels through the Sandy Hook bar. TIH K. I. Liid wig, a German author, born in llerlin, May 81, 177:5, died there, April '28, 1858. Ho completed his studies at Halle, and became known in 1795 as a writer of fantastic novels. His antagonism to the literary ten- dencies of the time was displayed in J'rfer Le- Irac/it (2 vols., 179o-'(>), and in 1'ilc.r Lebrcchfs Volhmdrchen (8 vols., 1797), several of which, as Der geatir I'Mc. l'<iln' (" i'uss in Hoots"), lilaubart (" Bluebeard"), arid Lelen vm/. Td des Ideinen Rothkappclien ("Life and heath of Little Red Hiding Hood";, combine the simplicity of the old legends with grotesque satire upon modern subjects. The classicists were the particular objects of his brilliant rail- lery, especially in his llerzensergiesHU'rigen einet Tcumtlielende'n EUtttrbrudtrt (1797), written in conjunction with Wackenroder, and l-'nn,z HtcrribaWs Wanderungen (2 vols., l79Hj, and in his comedies In,-, verkehrte Welt ("The Topsy-turvy World") and Prim Zerlino, oder die Reise nach demguten Geschmack (" Travels after Good Taste"). The Lelen und Tod der (Jenoteva (1800) is esteemed hi.s finest drama. Meantime he had married at Hamburg a niece of the composer UeiHmrdt, h;id beer, me asso- ciated with the Schlegels, Novalis, and Bteffens at Jena, and with Herder at Weimar, and pre- pared an admirable translation of " Don Quix- ote" (4 vols., Berlin, 1799-1801). He pub- lished at Dresden in 1802, with A. W. von S< -Lie- gel, the Musenalmanach. After examining at Home the manuscripts of German media-val literature, he returned in 1806 to Munich, and for several years he was disabled by the gout. In 1817 he visited England to complete his studies of Shakespeare and the Elizabethan age. In 1819 he settled at Dresden. In 1820 he was invited by the king of Prussia to Berlin, when, as in Dresden, he exerted great influence on the