218 Mr. Mill on the Moon*6 Lifluence, [Sept. 



Article VIII, 



Influence of the Moon on Animal and Vegetable Economy^ 

 By Mr. N. Mill. 



(To the Editors of the Annals of Philosophy .) 



GENTLEMEN, jiddington-square, Cambericell, Aug. 3, 1825. 



The subject of the moon's influence has engaged but very 

 little of the attention of the philosophical world, and with the 

 exception of the theory of the tides, has been scarcely noticed. Its 

 influence in promoting and accelerating animal decomposition 

 is known only to a certain class of persons, not the most re- 

 nowned indeed for studying the doctrine of cause and effect, 

 or extending philosophical knowledge ; (namely), persons in 

 the Navy and Company's service ; but who, nevertheless, are 

 sufficiently alive to interest. It is a fact well established and 

 authenticated by numbers of these gentlemen, who have ex- 

 perienced heavy losses thereby, that if an animal fresh killed, 

 be exposed to the full effulgence of the moon at certain seasons, 

 and in certain places, a very few hours only v/ill be sufficient 

 to render the animal so exposed a mass of corruption ; whilst 

 another animal, not exposed to such influence, and only a fev/ 

 feet distant, will not be in the slightest manner affected. It 

 would be impossible in the present imperfect state of our 

 knowledge of this luminary and its influence, to draw any just 

 conclusions from so few facts as have been collected upon this 

 subject; but it will be most desirable to accumulate them as 

 much as possible in order to deduce some accurate reasoning 

 from them ; I therefore subjoin some facts which have come to 

 my knowledge of the highest practical importance to this 

 maritime nation; and the disclosure of which, I trust, will open 

 a field for investigation that has hitherto been uncultivated 

 and neglected. The influence of the moon on vegetation has 

 not altogether been unobserved, because fruit when exposed to 

 moonshine has been known to ripen much more readily than 

 that which has not ; and plants shut out from the sun's rays 

 and from light, and consequently bleached, have been observed 

 to assume their natural appearance if exposed to the effulgence 

 of the moon. These are also facts fully established, but from 

 which no rational theory has been drawn. A very intelligent 

 gentleman, named Edmonstone, who was for nearly 30 years 

 engaged in cutting timber in Demerara, and who had made a 

 number of observations on trees during that period, has done 

 me the favour to give me explicit answers to a series of queries 

 which I presented for his inspection; and which, I doubt not, 

 will be appreciated as they merit, 1 shall present them iu 

 detail with the answer to each. 



