a railroad train when being brought to a stop. The change in
the surface speed of the earth at the equator has amounted to about
6.4 kilometres an hour; and various observations show that this
change of velocity was brought about by the operation of the unknown
force for a period of time of less than three minutes. The negative
acceleration thus represented would certainly be too small to
produce any marked physiological sensations, and yet the reports
from various places indicate that they were certainly observed. The
sensations felt are usually described as similar to those
experienced in a moving automobile when the brake is very gently
applied.

Moreover, certain destructive actions are reported from localities
near the equator--chimneys fell and tall buildings swayed; while
from New York comes the report that the obelisk in Central Park was
thrown from its pedestal. It appears that these effects were due to
the circumstance that the alteration of velocity was propagated
through the earth as a wave similar to an earthquake wave, and that
the effects were cumulative at certain points--a theory that is
substantiated by reports that at certain localities, even near the
equator, no effects were noted.

3. TIDAL WAVES. These were observed everywhere and were
very destructive in many places. In the Panama Canal, which is near
the equator and which runs nearly east and west, the sweep of the
water was so great that it flowed over the Gatun Lock. On the
eastern coasts of the various continents there was a recession of
the sea, the fall of the tide being from three to five metres below
the low-water mark. On the western coasts there was a corresponding
rise, which in some cases reached a level of over twelve metres.

That the tidal phenomena were not more marked and more destructive
is a matter of great surprise, and has been considered as evidence
that the retarding force was not applied at a single spot on the
earth's surface, but was a distributed force, which acted on the
water as well as on the land, though to a less extent. It is
difficult, however, to conceive of a force capable of acting in such
a way; and Bjoernson's theory of the magnetic vortex in the ether has
been rejected by this commission.

4. ATMOSPHERIC DISTURBANCES. Some time