EFFECT OF THE MOON ON TERRESTRIAL OBJECTS. 



551 



is evident from the facts which have been re- 

 corded. 



At no very distant period from that time, in 

 August, 1654, it is related that patients in con- 

 siderable numbers were by order of the physi- 

 cians shut up in chambers well closed, warmed, 

 and perfumed, with a view to escape the inju- 

 rious influence of the solar eclipse, which hap- 

 pened at that time ; and such was the consterna- 

 tion of persons of all classes, that the numbers 

 who flocked to confession were so great that the 

 ecclesiastics found it impossible to administer 

 that rite. An amusing anecdote is related of a 

 village curate near Paris, who, with a view to 

 ease the minds of his flock, and to gain to the ne- 

 cessary time to get through his business, serious- 

 ly assured them that the eclipse was postponed 

 for a fortnight. 



Two of the most remarkable examples re- 

 corded of the supposed influence of the moon ou 

 the human body, are those of Vallisnien and Ba- 

 con. Vallisnieri declares that being at Padua re- 

 covering from a tedious illness, he suffered on 

 the I'Jih of May. 1706, during the eclipse of the 

 sun, unusual weakness and shivering. Lunar 

 eclipses never happened without making Bacon 

 faint ; and he did not recover his senses till the 

 moon recovered her light. 



That these two striking examples should be 

 admitted in proof of the existence of lunar in- 

 fluence, it would be necessary, says M. Arago, 

 to establish the fact that feeblenfjss and pusilla- 

 nimity of character are never connected with 

 high qualities of mind. 



Menuret considered that cutaneous maladies 

 had a manifest connection with the lunar phases. 

 He says that he himself observed in the year 

 17b'0,a patient afflicted with a scald-head {teiifne}, 

 who, during the decline of the moon, suffered 

 from a gradual increase of the malady, which 

 continued until the epoch of the new moon, 

 when it had covered the face and breast, and 

 produced insufferable itching. As the moon in- 

 creased, these symptoms disappeared by de- 

 grees ; the face became free from the eruption ; 

 but the same effects were reproduced after the 

 full of the moon. These periods of the disease 

 continued for three months. 



Menuret also stated that he witnessed a simi- 

 lar correspondence between the lunar phases 

 and the distemper of the itch : but the circum- 

 stances were the reverse of those in the former 

 case ; the malady obtaining its maximum at the 

 full of the moon, and its minimum at the new 

 moon. 



Without disputing the accuracy of the.se state- 

 monts, or llirowing any suspicion on the good 

 faith of the physician who has made them, we 

 may observe that such facts prove nothing 

 except the fortuitous coincidence. If the rela- 

 tion of cause and effect had existed be- 

 tween the lunar pha.ses and the phenomena of 

 these di.stemper.s, the same cause would have 

 continued to produce the same effect in like cir- 

 cumstances : and we should not be left to depend 

 for the proof of lunar influence on the state- 

 ments of i.solated cases, occuiTiug under the 

 observation of a physician who was himself a 

 believer. 



Maurice Hoffinan relates a case which came 

 under his own practice, of a young woman, the 

 daughter of an epileptic patient. The abdomen 

 of this girl became inflated every month as tlie 

 moon increased, and regularly resumed its nat- 

 ural form with the decline of the moon. 



Now if this statement of Hoffman were ac- 

 (1139, 



companied by all the necessary details, and if, 

 also, we are assured tliat this strange effect con- 

 tinued to be produced for any considerable length 

 of time, the relation of cause and eflPect between 

 the phases of th6 moon and the malady of the 

 girl could not legitimately be denied ; but re- 

 ceiving the statement in so vague a form, and 

 not being assured that the effect continued to be 

 produced beyond a few months, the legitimate 

 conclusion at which we must arrive is, that this 

 is another example of fortuitous coincidence, 

 and may be classed with the fulfilment of dreams, 

 prodigies, &c., &c. 



As may naturallj- be expected, nervous dis- 

 eases are those which have presented the most 

 frequent indications of a relation with the lunar 

 phases. The celebrated Mead was a strong be- 

 liever, not only in the lunar influence, but in the 

 influence of all the heavenly bodies on all the hu- 

 man. He cites the case of a child who always 

 went into convulsions at the moment of full 

 moon. Pyson, another believer, cites another 

 case of a paralytic patient whose disease was 

 brought on by the new moon. Menuret records 

 the case of an epileptic patient whose fits re- 

 turned with the full moon. The transactions of 

 learned societies abound w-ith examples of srid- 

 dincss, malignant fever, somnambuli.sm, &c., hav- 

 ing in their paroxysms more or less corresponded 

 with the lunar pha.ses. Gall states, as a matter 

 having fallen under his own observation, that 

 patients suffering under weakness of intellect, 

 had two jjcriods in the month of peculiar excite- 

 ment ; and in a work published in Loudon so re- 

 cently as 1829, we are assured that these epochs 

 are between the new and full moon. 



Against all these in.stances ot the supposed ef- 

 fect of lunar influence, we have little dii-ect 

 proof to offer. To establish a negative is not 

 easy. Yet it were to be w-ished that in some 

 of our great asylums for insane patients, a regis- 

 ter should be preserved of the exact times of 

 theaccess of all the remarkable paroxysms ; a 

 subsequent comparison of this with the. age 

 of the moon at the time of their occurrence 

 would furnish the ground for legitimate and 

 safe conclusions. We are not aware of any 

 scientific physician who has expressly di- 

 rected his attention to this question, except Dr. 

 Olbers of Bremen, celebrated for his discovery 

 of the planets Pallas and Vesta. He states that 

 in tlie course of a long medical practice, he was 

 never able to discover the slightest trace of any 

 connection between the jdieuomena of disease 

 and the phases of the moon. In the spirit of true 

 philosophy, M. Arago, nevertheless, recommends 

 caution in deciding against this influence. The 

 nervous system, says he, is in manj' instances an 

 insfument infinitely more delicate than the most 

 subtle apparatus of modern physics. Who does 

 not know that the olfactory nerves infonn us of 

 the presence of odoriferous matter in air, the tra- 

 ces of which the most refined physical analysis 

 would fail to detect .' The mechanism of the eye 

 is highly affected by that lunar light which, even 

 condensed with all the power of the largest 

 burning lenses, fails to affect by its heat the most 

 susceptible thermometer, or, by its chemical in- 

 Huence, the chloride of silver ; yet a small por- 

 tion of this liLfht introduced through a pin-hole 

 will be sufficient to produce an instantaneous 

 contraction of the pupil ; nevertheless the integ 

 uments of this membrane, so sensible to light, 

 appear to be completely inert when otherwise 

 affected. The pupil remains unmoved, whether 

 we scrape it with the point of a needle, moisten 



