its rate of progress, and the time required before it can cause a perceptible impression upon the rotative energy of the earth.
Now, it is believed by astronomers that they have detected evidence of such a change, for our knowledge of the motions of the sun and moon has become so exact, that not only can we carry forward our calculations so as to predict an eclipse, but also carry them backwards, and thus fix the dates and even the very details of the ancient historical eclipses.
If, however, between those times and the present, the earth has lost a little rotative energy on account of this peculiar action of the moon, then it is evident that the calculated circumstances of the ancient total eclipse will not quite agree with those actually recorded; and by a comparison of this nature it is believed that we have detected a very slight falling off in the rotative energy of our earth. If we carry out the argument, we shall be driven to the conclusion that the rotative energy of our globe will, on account of the moon's action, always get less and less, until things are brought into such a state that the rotation comes to be performed in the same time as the revolution of the moon, so that then the same portion of the terrestrial surface being always presented to the moon, it is evident that there will be no effort made by the solid substance of the earth, to glide from under the fluid protuberance, and there will in consequence be no friction, and no further loss of energy.
