142 MOONLIGHT IN DIFFERENT LATITUDES. 



the two are as closely connected as if they were 

 parts of one single process. That should teach us 

 not to pass any one thing or occurrence unobserved, 

 or any one observation without reflecting on it ; be- 

 cause there is knowledge in them all ; and, at a time 

 when we may have no means of obtaining it, we 

 may be greatly at a loss for that very knowledge 

 which we pass over unheeded. 



There is another circumstance connected with 

 moonlight which is worthy of notice, and that is, 

 that where there is least sunshine there is most 

 moonlight. The full moon is not always directly 

 opposite to the sun, but sometimes a little higher 

 and sometimes a little lower than the point oppo- 

 site, but directly opposite is the average place of the 

 full moon ; and thus the full moon is, on the average, 

 just as long above the horizon and shining, as the 

 sun is below it and set ; and if the sun is high at 

 noon, the moon is low at midnight; also, if the mid- 

 day sun is low, the midnight moon is correspondingly 

 high. The influence, or action of the light, both of 

 the sun and the moon, is in proportion to the length 

 of time that they shine, and also to their height 

 above the horizon ; and thus, during winter, there 

 is the greatest duration as well as the greatest 

 strength of moonlight ; and always as one goes into 

 a higher latitude, the winter full moons shine longer 

 and more brightly. The Lapland moon is an object 

 far more beautiful than they who live in more genial 

 climates and have the atmosphere loaded with va- 

 pour can easily imagine. The intense frost there 

 sends down every particle of water in a state of 

 finely powdered snow, each little piece as hard and 

 bright as rock crystal ; and the strong power of 

 crystallization so holds the particles of those little 

 pieces together, that even when there is a glimmer 

 of mid-day sun, that produces no vapour. The win- 

 ter sky is in consequence perfectly pure, dry, and 

 transparent. No sapphire can rival the depth of its 



