SOLON ROBINSON, 1847 89 



the lime rock, showing that here once flowed the outlet of 

 Lake Michigan. 



Twenty-five miles south of Joliet commence the great 

 coal fields of Illinois. 



But I am rambling on, quite uninteresting, perhaps, to 

 you or any others, who will read this letter. I will there- 

 fore close abruptly. 



I am, with much respect, 



Solon Robinson. 



Crown Point, Lake Co., la.. May 27, 1847. 



Odds and Ends from an Odd End. 



[Chicago Prairie Farmer, 7:204-5; July, 1847] 



[June, 1847] 



Messrs. Editors: I am called upon by one of your 

 correspondents in the June number for "light" — moon- 

 light at that. "Alas, my sun has set." I am but the 

 feeble reflection of a passing shadow. The little light I 

 once gave out, I have not "hid under a bushel," but it has 

 been dimmed upon a bed of long-continued illness. 



The most that I can "enlighten" Dr. Rousseau^ on the 

 subject of the influence of the goddess Luna upon sub- 

 lunary things, is to assure him that I most sincerely be- 

 lieve it is "all moonshine." 



In the early ages of the world, when men's minds were 

 in a state of semi-barbarism, when stars were studied be- 

 fore books, the sun and moon came to be looked upon with 

 awe and reverence ; and as the effect of the sun upon vege- 

 tation was palpable to the senses, it was but natural that 

 it should come to be believed by a people who had a spe- 

 cial deity for every fruit and flower and tree, brook, 

 grove, and mount or sea, that the moon also performed 



' Dr. J. A. Rousseau, Elm Grove, Marion County, Iowa. Corre- 

 spondent of the Prairie Farmer, 1847-1850. Frequently wrote about 

 animals and their diseases. Robinson's comment refers to an 

 article on "The Moon," 7:196, asking his views on the influence of 

 the moon on vegetation. See also "The Moon Doctrine," written 

 probably by one of the editors, in ibid., 8:18-20 (January, 1848), 



