222 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 



III. Natural History. 



1. On the Siq?posed Injluence of the Moon, by M. Arago. — 

 There is an impression very general with gardeners, that the moon 

 has a particular effect on plants, especially in certain months. The 

 g-ardeners near Paris gave the name of the lune rousse to the moon, 

 which, beginning in April, becomes full either at the end of the 

 month, or more generally in May. According to them theflight of 

 the moon, in the months of April and May, injures the shoots of 

 plants, and that, when the sky is clear, the leaves and buds exposed 

 to this light become red or brown, and are killed, though the ther- 

 mometer in the atmosphere is several degrees above the freezing 

 point : they confirm this observation, by remarking that, when the 

 rays of the moon are stopped in consequence of the existence of 

 clouds in the air, that then the plants are not injured, although the 

 temperature and other circumstances are the same. 



M. Arago explains this observation of practical men, by a refer- 

 ence to the facts and principles established by Dr. Wells. He has 

 shown that, in a clear night, exposed bodies may frequently have 

 their temperatures reduced below that of the surrounding atmos- 

 phere, solely by the effect of radiation, the difference being as 

 much as 6, 7, 10, or more degrees, but that it does not take 

 place when the heavens are obscured. M. Arago then observes, 

 that the temperature is often not more than 4, 5, or 6 degrees 

 above the freezing point during the nights of April and May, 

 and that when the night is clear, consequently when the moon is 

 bright, the temperature of the leaves and buds may often be brought 

 by radiation below the freezing point, whilst the air remains above 

 it, and consequently an effect be produced, which, though not de- 

 pendent upon, accompanies the brilliant unobscured state of the 

 moon — the absence of these injurious effects, when the moon is ob- 

 scured, being also as perfectly accounted for by these principleSj 

 from the knowledge that the same clouds which obscure the moon 

 will prevent the radiation of heat from the plants. Hence, as M* 

 Arago observes, the observation of the gardener is correct as far as 

 it goes, though the interpretation of the effect which he generally 

 gives is incorrect. — Annuaire du Bureau des Long. 1827, p. 162. 



2. Lumijious Appearances in the Atmosphere. — An account is 

 given at page 242 of our last volume, from Silliman's Journal, of 

 certain spots in the air near the horizon, which have been seen 

 highly luminous in Ohio, United States, by Mr. Atwater, and 

 which often induce the supposition that fires exist in their direction. 

 Mr. Webster says — " I have observed similar phenomena in New 

 England : I recollect one instance, when I resided at Amherst, in 

 Ilampshire County, Mass., a bright light in the north-east, near 



