LUNAR INFLUENCES. 



some effect may be produced upon the skin exposed on clear 

 nights, explicable on the same principle as that by which we have 

 explained the effects erroneously imputed to what is called the 

 red moon. The skin being, in common with the leaves and 

 flowers of vegetables, a good radiator of heat, will, when exposed 

 on a clear night, for the same reasons, sustain a loss of tempera- 

 ture. Although this will be to a certain extent restored by the 

 sources of animal heat, still it may be contended that the cooling 

 produced by radiation is not altogether without effect. It is 

 well known that a person who sleeps exposed in the open air 

 on a night when the dew falls, is liable to suffer from severe 

 cold, although the atmosphere around him never falls below 

 a moderate temperature ; and although no actual deposition 

 of dew may take place upon his skin. This effect must arise 

 from the constant lowering of temperature of the skin by 

 radiation. 



The Hdle du bivouack is a term familiar to all French soldiers 

 who have taken much part in campaigns. Hale is a term which 

 expresses a certain supposed quality of the atmosphere, by 

 which it produces the effect of tanning or darkening the skin. 

 It is well known to the soldier that it takes place only on un- 

 clouded nights when the face is exposed to the sky. That it 

 is not a mere quality of the atmosphere is proved by the 

 fact that any screen which will intercept the view of the sky 

 will protect the face, however much it be otherwise exposed to 

 the air. 



In the south of France mothers warn their daughters against 

 nocturnal promenades by the old proverb : 



" Que lou sol y la sereine 

 Fan veni la gent mouraine." 



It is remarkable that this proverb is current in places where the 

 moon is not noticed as concerned in the effect produced. 



6. Supposed Lunar Influence on Putrefaction. Pliny and Plutarch 

 have transmitted it as a maxim, that the light of the moon 

 facilitates the putrefaction of animal substances, and covers 

 them with moisture. The same opinion prevails in the West 

 Indies, and in South America. An impression is prevalent, also, 

 that certain kinds of fish exposed to moonlight lose their flavour 

 and become soft and flabby ; and that if a wounded mule be ex- 

 posed to the light of the moon during the night, the wound will 

 become irritated, and frequently become incurable. 



Such effects, if real, may be explained upon the same prin- 

 ciples as those by which we have already explained the effects 

 imputed to the red moon. Animal substances exposed to a clear 

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