6 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



it is that in the popular mind errors and myths still persist : the 

 crescent moon pours water from its down-pointing horns, and the 

 zodiac smiles or frowns on agricultural activities. 



The phenomenon of the moon rising partially eclipst one 

 evening last October, while the sun was still visible above the 

 horizon brought forth a series of letters from correspondents 

 to the Toronto (and no doubt other) newspapers. The flat- 

 earth, sun-do-move, school of thought still has many adherents, 

 even among those apparently well-educated. One letter suggested 

 electrons and Einstein's theory as alternative explanations of 

 that eclipse, and proceeded to discuss other phenomena, mention- 

 ing a case of driving thru a rainbow and hearing sounds of crackling 

 glass. Within the past fortnight two different people, both 

 intelligent, one a university graduate, have helped me in pre- 

 paring this paper by describing the two following incidents: (1) 

 Two moons seen at same time, one rising the other setting. Said 

 to have been seen in Saskatchewan about four a. m. by several people ; 

 (2) Four rainbows seen at once with the sun in the centre. Back 

 in the spring of 1910, when many were watching for the first 

 appearance of Halley's comet, I myself was awakened one morning 

 by a friend who pointed out to me a giant comet -like appearance 

 in the sky. It reached from a point in the eastern horizon clear 

 across the zenith and spread out a great tail half way down the 

 western sky. Not doubting that it was indeed the comet, I 

 informed the students in the school and they spread the good 

 news so that we had all the community wide awake the next 

 morning at four o'clock. But, tho the sky was perfectly clear 

 there was no comet, nor the next morning, nor for over a month 

 after that. When the authentic Halley's made its appearance 

 it was a small and pallid afi'air compared with its splendid prede- 

 cessor. What was the latter? Our meteorological bureau 

 expressed the opinion that it was an auroral arch, though the 

 latter are rare at the latitude of Toronto and especially at that 

 early hour in the morning. My other friend's four rainbows, 

 on closer questioning, resolved themselves into the two lower 

 arcs of one bow, and their reflection in the calm water of a lake. 

 As they appeared around the sun, I presume that they were 

 really "sundogs" or parts of a halo, not parts of a real rainbow. 

 As to the simultaneous appearance of two moons, I can venture 

 no opinion. 



