{ 189 ) 



SCIENTIFIC INTELLIGENCE. 



METEOROLOGY. 



1. Influence of the Moon on Rain. — From the comparison of 

 a series of observations, continued for twenty-eight years at 

 Munich, Stuttgard, and Augsburg, by Professor Schubler, it 

 appears that the maximum number of rainy days takes place be- 

 tween the first quarter and the new moon. The number of 

 Vdiiuy, days in the last of these intervals, is to that in the first as 

 696 to 845, or in round numbers, as 5 to 6. And this propor- 

 tion is not only true of the twenty years taken together, but al- 

 so of the separate groups of four years, which give analogous 

 numbers ; we therefore conclude that it rains more frequently 

 during the increase than during the wane of the moon. The 

 results obtained by Schubler receive support from a series of 

 observations made by Pilgram at Vienna. On 100 repetitions 

 of the same phase, Pilgram found the falls of rain to be as 

 follows : New moon 26, mean of the two quarters 25, full moon 

 29 ; consequently, at Vienna, as well as at Augsburg and 

 Stutgard, it rains more frequently on the day of the full, than 

 on that of the new moon. Arago remarks in regard to the 

 observations, " confining ourselves to the principal results^ it 

 seems dijfflcult to resist the conclusion that the vioon exercises an 

 iiifiuence on our atmosphere; that in virtue of this influence 

 rain falls more frequently towards the second octant, than ai 

 any other epoch of the lunar month ; and, lastly, that the chances 

 of rain are fewest between the last quarter and the fourth oc- 

 tantr 



2. The supposed Influence of the Moon on Vegetation. — It is 

 generally believed, says Arago, especially in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris, that the moon, in certain months, has a great influence 

 on the phenomena of vegetation. The gardeners give the name 

 of red moon (lune rousse) to the moon, which, beginning in 

 April, becomes full either about the end of that month, or more 

 usually in the course of May. In the months of April and 

 May, the moon, according to them, exercises a pernicious in- 



