NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



15 



Ihe cclcbrateil agricultnnsts, I.adquiiiteiio, 

 nlmann, Keichard, aiui llartcntels; ;ilso liy 

 great naturalists, BinVon, and Reannnir ; who 

 )ved distinctly, that llic increase or docroase 

 the moon had no intluence. oJlhor upon the 

 niinalion ot" seeds, or upon the increase of 

 nts, or upon the rapidity ot their devchip- 

 nt, or upon their quality. 1 have also mucli 

 ficulty in believing, that the light of the moon 

 luces a particular elTect diliVrent from thai 

 any other light. The experiments made in 

 me, in 1783, by Athan, Cavallon, and repeat- 

 by Bertholon de Saint-Lazare, prove nothing 

 pecting lunar light augmenting evaporation; 

 tlie same manner 1 assert, that those of Weilz. 

 de with potash at Lautenberg, prove noth- 

 respectnig the lunar rays drawing forth hu- 

 iity. If, in South America and Batavia, they 

 ;e such a ilread of moon-light, 1 should attri- 

 e the pretended pernicious effects said to be 

 luced, more to the humidity of the air, and 

 the coldness of the nights, than to the eflect 

 any influence of the moon. Bonitus observ- 

 the tetanus to take place at Java most t've 

 nlly during the nighl, in the rainy season; 

 1 he expressly remarked, that the two terri- 

 diseases so frequent in the East Indies, name- 

 the cholera morbus and dysentery, most t're- 

 nlly took place during Ihe rainy months of 

 jmer. The celebrated Reil observes, thist 

 ors have become incapable of supporting day- 

 it IVom having slept exposed to the light ot 

 moon. 1 have, however, never heard from 

 sailors any complaint of this kind. M. Rei! 

 ) asserts, that children sleep less tranquilly 

 en the moon is on the increase. Having had 

 experience on this subject, 1 cannot speak 

 idedly as to Ihe truth of it; but, in any case, 

 would explain itvtilhout having recourse to 

 iiilhience of the moon. I should be elad to 

 'W if painters have really remarked h it the 

 3n has an effect upon their colors, as they 

 e pretended that it has.* In a word, expe- 

 ice does not prove any particular influence 

 he moon's phases upon animal organization; 

 the theory given by R. Mead is absolutely 

 e. 1 can positively assert that I have always 

 n attentue to this subject, with respect to 

 ; persons, during the long time that 1 have 

 ctised medicine, and that I never perceived 

 relation between the courses of the moon 

 my patients, or between their symptoms and 

 means of eflecting cures. Neither have 1 

 arked any influence of the lunar phases, 

 ler on diseases caused by worms, or dropsy, 

 ours, or even on epileptic diseases; I will 

 however deny, contrary to so many ancient 

 jrvations, but that the moon may have some 

 jence in particular diseases, 

 imong all (he instruments we can employ, in 

 er to detect natural agents, otherwise imper- 

 tible, the most sensible, as Laplace has very 

 perly observed, are the nerves, the sensibil- 

 ot which is often increased by disease. It is 

 means of the nerves that we can discover the 

 ale electricity produced by the contact of 

 ' metals ; and it can only be owing to the ex- 

 ne sensibility of the nerves, that some sick 



Experiments made at the Royal Observatory at 

 3, hare proved that the lijht of the moon condens- 

 y a very powerful lens, had no effect whatever iii 

 ■ing chemical products, though very sensibly aud 

 ly affected hy the light of the sun. 



J\~ole by the French Translalvr. 



persons are able to perceive the influence of 

 the moon in particular situations, that influence 

 being so extremely small. 



It may also be this circumstance, perh.Tps, 

 which has discovered to physician*, that there 

 is a relation between the lunar phases aud the 

 access of epilepsy and insanity. 1 dare not de- 

 cide whether we are to exjilain in this manner 

 the remarks made by Dickmerbrad; and Remuz- 

 ziiii, respecting the pestilential fevers, which 

 raged in the yeni-s UviG, 1692, 1G93, and lti9!. 

 It could, however, be owing to nothing but ac- 

 cident, that so many persons aiVected with fever 

 died, during the time of the lunar eclipse, which 

 happened on the 'i\ii of January, ICOri. The 

 intluence of the moon upon Ihe crisis of diseases, 

 taught by Galen, and defended so long in the 

 schools of medicine, is contradicted by experi-j 

 ence, at least in Europe ; and if Ballour be right, 

 in asserting that there is a connexion between 

 the tides and the access of endemick fevers in 

 India, anil that the crisis of fevers happens but 

 at the moment when the luni solar action be- 

 gins to decrease, we can only so far agree with 

 him, that this eli'ect only takes place near Ihe 

 sea-coast. In general, we must read those au- 

 ihors, who refer so many things to the elTects 

 of the moon on diseases, with considerable dis- 

 trus(. It is here, as in many cases of reverie — 

 we only see it when we believe it. A belief in 

 this intluence can only deceive the observer, 

 who, otherwise fond of truth, shares this belief 

 with the sick persons; and thus it is that hope 

 and fear excite in the imagination effects to 

 which th.e moon does not in any way contribute. 

 Thus, also, it was in former times. People in 

 sreneral iverc atraid of eclipses of the sun and 

 moon, and believed that these phenomena exer- 

 cised certain pernicious influences over sick per- 

 sons, and persons possessed of weak nerves ; 

 now, absolutely no sick person perceives the ef- 

 fect, and the physicians pay no attention to it. 



Leghorn Hats. — The common redtop grass that 

 grows in our meadows, is superior in durability 

 and color, to the Leghorn straw. This is about 

 the time to gather it. It may be selected by 

 handfuls by following after the mowers, before 

 the grass is shaken out. To bleach it requires 

 a very simple process: .Scald and dry the grass 

 two or three times, which takes out the green 

 color — then whiten it still further if you please, 

 by placing it in a tub or barrel, in s'lch a man- 

 ner as to expose it to the fumes of brimstone ; or 

 braid it and then fumigate it, as the milliners do 

 their leghorn bonnets. When we consider that 

 it costs the price of six or eight weeks labor of 

 a girl to purchase a leghorn hat, is it not well 

 worth the while for farmers to let their boys 

 select grass for their sisters and others to braid 

 Even the largest of the grass makes hats of fin- 

 er quality than gentlemen commonly wear 

 More than a million of dollars has been paid for 

 leghorn bonnets within the last year. 



Bennington Gazette. 



Corn. — To procure a good crop of corn, we 

 would recommend to the farmer to put a good 

 coat of plaster, say about \^ bushel to the acre, 

 on meadow land, soon after mowing, and turn 

 in the crop of rovven, when grown. In the 

 spring bush it, so as not to disturb the sod — cross- 

 furrow, and dung it in the hill. By this method 

 we believe the worm will be less likely to in- 



jure it than when turned over in the spring- 

 the drowlh will olTecl it less; and the corn will 

 be earlier;. By this method voii have your an- 

 nual crops, and the l.md seems lo be re.'Horcd tn 

 its original stale. This plan was taken by u 

 neighbor of our-, who has unquestiomibly "the 

 best corn in the town, if not in the county.— ft,",/. 



CO.MMCNIfATEn FOP. TllK NEW Kr.-OI.AND FARMF.n . 



MEDICAL S(.:iIOOL AT BOSTON. 



The Medical I'aculty of Harvard University 

 give notice, Ihat their lectures at Ihe Massachu- 

 setts Medical College in Boston will bcin on 

 the third Wednesday in November, and be con- 

 tinued daily until the usual termination of the 

 course. 



It is presumed that the mean*, now possessed 

 by this school for promoting and facilitating the 

 acquirement of medical knowledge in all its 

 branches, are equal to those offered by any A- 

 merican college, and commensurate with the ad- 

 vances made by society in the other departments 

 of useful learning. As auxiliary to the several 

 courses of medical instruction, the school is am- 

 ply provided with apparatus, collections, and 

 opportunities for practical demonstration ; which, 

 if aided by industry on the part of the student, 

 are calculated to atlord him the same kind of in- 

 tbrmation, as that for which the hospitals and 

 seminaries of Europe are usually visited. These 

 auxiliary advantages consist in a large and se- 

 lect medical library ; a cabinet of a thousand 

 anatomical preparations; an ample and well fur- 

 nished chemical laboratory ; a collection of spe- 

 cimens of the materia medica ; a suit of models 

 and specimens for illustrating the principles and 

 operations of obstetrics; a course of recent dis- 

 sect ions, both public by the professor, and pri- 

 vate by the students themselves; and lastly, 

 an opporlunity of acquiring practically medical 

 and surgical knowledge at the Massachusetts 

 General Hospital. 



The following courses of lectures begin and 

 terminate at the periods which have been spe- 

 cified. 



Anatomy and Surgery, by Dr. Warren, fee g20. 

 Chemistry, by Dr. Gorham, fee ^15. 

 Midwifery and Jurisprudence, by Dr. Channing, 



fee 1^10. 

 Materia Medica, by Dr. Bigelow, fee ^\0. 

 Theory and Practice ot Physic, by Dr. Jackson, 

 fee gl5. 



These constitute the regular course of medi- 

 cal instruction preparatory to a medical degree. 

 Students, who choose, have (he additional op- 

 portunity in the spring season to attend lectures 

 at Cambridge on Mineralogy, Botany, Natural 

 Philosophy, and Philosophy applied to Ihe Arts, 

 as well as on various departments of literature. 

 As the Massachusetts General Hospital has 

 not been completed so as to be acessible to med- 

 ical students until within Ihe two last seasons, 

 it may be proper give some account of Ihe op- 

 portunity it aflords for practical instruction to 

 students during their residence in the city. The 

 wards of the medical departments have always 

 furnished a succession of interesting cases, both 

 acute and chronic, which have been under the 

 care of the professor of the theory and practice 

 of physic. Regular clinical lectures during the 

 winter are given upon these cases, and studenti 

 are admitted lo the patients so far as to become 

 experimentally conversant with the symptoms 



