140 MOONBEAMS. 



pendently of faint flashes of lightning not being so 

 well seen in moonlight as when there is none, it is 

 matter of common observation that it lightens less 

 on moonlight nights than at other times, even ad- 

 mitting the general state of the earth and the air to 

 be the same. That is a further confirmation of the 

 yery intimate connexion there is, not only between 

 solar light and lightning, but between the red and 

 heating rays of light and that phenomenon ; and it 

 is probable that the moonbeams, consisting chiefly 

 of the middle and other end of the spectrum, take 

 the quality of lightning out of the clouds, or of the 

 moisture that is floating invisibly in the air. Ex- 

 periment increases the probability of that ; because 

 the artificial lightning that can be excited by pecu- 

 liar combinations and actions of substances, and of 

 which electricity, galvanism, and magnetism are the 

 modifications with which we are best acquainted, 

 has always two poles, the one of which has a rela- 

 tion to oxidizing and producing colour, and the other 

 an opposite relation. 



And we can observe a very beautiful instance of 

 that in the beams of the moon. These, as has been 

 said, contain little of the red or the heating rays ; 

 and it is well known how very efficient moonlight 

 is in performing those operations which are more 

 immediately performed by the rays towards the de- 

 oxidizing end of the spectrum. Every housewife 

 knows how nicely her linen is whitened if she can 

 leave it out during the moonlight ; and many know 

 that muslins which the sun would render yellow or 

 brown can be preserved as white as snow if dried 

 by the light of the moon. Every farmer, too, that 

 takes notice (and surely the most unobserving far- 

 mers watch the progress of their crops), must have 

 observed how very rapidly the moonlight, not merely 

 whitens, but actually matures and ripens his corn. 

 In that respect, one fine moonlight night is equal to 

 at least two days of sunshine; and that circum- 

 stance, while it lets us see that moonlight has other 



