In a well-known investigation Sir William Thomson has discussed the problem of the bodily tides of a homogeneous elastic sphere, and has drawn therefrom very important conclusions as to the great rigidity of the earth.

Now it appears improbable that the earth should be perfectly elastic; for the contortions of geological strata show that the matter constituting the earth is somewhat plastic, at least near the surface. We know also that even the most refractory metals can be made to flow under the action of sufficiently great forces.

Although Sir W. Thomson's investigation has gone far to overthrow the old idea of a semi-fluid interior to the earth, yet geologists are so strongly impressed by the fact that enormous masses of rock are being, and have been, poured out of volcanic vents in the earth's surface, that the belief is not yet extinct that we live on a thin shell over a sea of molten lava. Under these circumstances it appears to be of interest to investigate the consequences which would arise from the supposition that the matter constituting the earth is of a viscous or imperfectly elastic nature; for if the interior is constituted in this way, then the solid crust, unless very thick, cannot possess rigidity enough to repress the tidal surgings, and these hypotheses must give results fairly conformable to the reality. The hypothesis of imperfect elasticity will be principally interesting as showing how far Sir W. Thomson's results are modified by the supposition that the elasticity breaks down under continued stress.