THE MOON AND TEE WEATHER. 477 



weather phenomena exists ? And, finally, the " changes " of the moon 

 are not exclusively confined to England, nor to any one country. The 

 new moon waxes into the full moon simultaneously all the world over. 

 Moreover, the " change " takes place simultaneously all the world 

 over. Consequently, when the change occurs between 12 and 2 p. m., 

 it means that the weather will be " very rainy " in every part of the 

 earth where summer is, while " snow " must prevail wherever the con- 

 ditions are such as to make rain impossible ; and what becomes of 

 those local variations which are the experiences of everybody who has 

 traveled twenty miles upon the terrestrial globe ? Predictions founded 

 upon this preposterous weather table are not one whit more worthy 

 of serious attention than those contained in Zadkiel's Almanac ; but, 

 while the latter are admittedly addressed only to the grossly ignorant 

 and credulous, the table unfortunately retains its character of respecta- 

 bility unimpaired. 



As an example of elaborate nonsense, I know of nothing better 

 than a table "showing the probabilities of a change of weather at or 

 after each of the moon's situations throughout an entire revolution in 

 her orbit," which received the honor of recognition and approval in a 

 cyclopaedia of not very ancient date. The table names the moon's ten 

 "situations" (conjunction, opposition, first quarter, third quarter, peri- 

 gee, apogee, ascending equinox, descending equinox, northern lunis- 

 tice, and southern lunistice), and opposite each gives the "chances 

 that the weather will change " with the most exquisite exactitude. 

 Thus, there are six chances to one that a change will take place about 

 new moon, but only five to two in favor of a change about the full. 

 At the time of the northern lunistice the chances are eleven to four, 

 at the southern three to one (note the minute difference). Unlike 

 Herschel's table, this one has reference to a lunar "influence" which 

 depends for its intensity, as any physical influence necessarily 

 would do, upon the nearness or distance of its source, and also 

 upon the position of that source relative to the sun, which may 

 be regarded as the seat of an opposing or antagonistic influence. 

 This is all quite rational, and is well calculated to impress the un- 

 scientific mind, while the exquisite precision with which the proba- 

 bilities are stated, greatly enhances the effect. But what is the out- 

 come of it? Taking the ten specified points in each lunation, and 

 calling a lunation, roughly, thirty days, and then averaging the "prob- 

 abilities," we discover that this table, which looks for all the world as 

 if it might be the condensed result of years of observation and much 

 laborious calculation, merely expresses (or, more properly speaking, 

 conceals) the simple fact, that in every three days there are about 

 three chances to one that the weather will undergo a change ! — which, 

 80 far as this country is concerned, is only too true. 



" If Christmas comes during a waxing moon we shall have a very 

 good year ; and the nearer to the new moon the better. But if, during 



