PLANTING IN THE MOON. 61 



direction, the phenomenon of the ebbing tide is 

 completed. As the moon is always present at 

 about the same distance from the earth, and as we 

 see the tides rise and fall daily, we can understand 



V f 



that the fact of the moon being " old ' or " new" 

 can have no effect upon this movement. The moon, 

 of course is just as real and substantial when it 

 appears as the smallest crescent as when it appears 

 at the full, so that it is difficult to see what influ- 

 ence it can exert, except in the amount of light 

 which it imparts, at one time more than another. 



The tides in the air and ocean, and whatever 

 heat the moon may give, are the only visible sources 

 of influence that the moon can have upon the 

 weather. The effect of the tides, whatever it may 

 be, must be very small, and its relation, if any, to 

 the ordinary changes of the weather have never 

 been pointed out. All we know is that certain 

 regular currents in the air and in the ocean are 

 affected by the tides, but neither these currents nor 

 the tides have any known connection with the 

 changes in the moon's appearance. The heat 

 furnished by the moon is practically nothing; the 

 moon being a cold body, far too cold to support 

 life of any kind. It has been estimated that the 

 heat accompanying the light of a full moon raises 

 the temperature of the air exposed to its influence 

 only one five thousandth part of a degree. 



