472 LUNAR INFLUENCES. 



which refer to the supposed lunar influences. We shall confine ourselves 

 therefore to the principal of them, and shortly examine how far they can be 

 reconciled with the established principles of astronomy and physics. 



The Red Moon. It is believed generally, especially in the neighborhood of 

 Paris, that in certain months of the year, the moon exerts a great influence up- 

 on the phenomena of vegetation. Gardeners give the name of Red Moon to 

 that moon which is full between the middle of April and the close of May. Ac- 

 cording to them the light of the moon at that season exercises an injurious in- 

 fluence upon the young shoots of plants. They say that when the sky is 

 clear the leaves and buds exposed to the lunar light redden and are killed as 

 if by frost, at a time when the thermometer exposed to the atmosphere stands 

 at many degrees above the freezing point. They say also that if a clouded 

 sky intercepts the moon's light it prevents these injurious consequences to the 

 plants, although the circumstances of temperature are the same in both cases. 



Any person who is acquainted with the beautiful theory of dew, which we 

 owe to Dr. Wells, will find no difficulty in accounting for these effects errone- 

 ously imputed to the moon. If the heavens be clear and unclouded, all sub- 

 stances on the surface of the earth which are strong and powerful radiators of 

 heat, lose temperature by radiation, while the unclouded sky returns no heat to 

 them to restore what they have lost. Such bodies, therefore, under these cir- 

 cumstances, become colder than the surrounding air, and may even, if they be 

 liquid, be frozen. Ice. in fact, is produced, in warm climates, by similar 

 means. But if the firmament be enveloped in clouds, the clouds havii.g the 

 quality of radiating heat, will restore by their radiation, to substances upon the 

 surface of the earth, as much heat as such substances lose by radiation ; the 

 temperature, therefore, of such bodies will be maintained at a point equal to 

 that of the air surrounding them. 



Now the leaves and flowers of plants are strong and powerful radiators of 

 heat ; when the sky is clear they therefore lose temperature and may be frozen ; 

 if, on the other hand, the sky be clouded, their temperature is maintained for 

 the reasons above stated. 



The moon, therefore, has no connexion whatever with this effect ; and it is 

 certain that plants would suffer under the same circumstances whether the 

 moon is above or below the horizon. It equally is quite true that if the moon 

 be above the horizon, the plants cannot suffer unless it be visible ; because a 

 clear sky is indispensable as much to the production of the injury to the plants 

 as to the visibility of the moon ; and, on the other hand, the same clouds 

 which veil the moon and intercept her light give back to the plants that warmth 

 which prevents the injury here adverted to. The popular opinion is therefore 

 right as to the effect, but wrong as to the cause ; and its error will be at once 

 discovered by showing that on a clear night, when the moon is new, and, 

 therefore, not visible, the plants may nevertheless suffer. 



Time for felling Timber. There is an opinion generally entertained that tim- 

 ber should be felled only during the decline of the moon ; for if it be cut down 

 during its increase, it will not be of a good or durable quality. This impression 

 prevails in various countries. It is acted upon in England, and is made the 

 ground of legislation irt France. The forest laws of the latter country inter- 

 dict the cutting of timber during the increase of the moon. M. Auguste de 

 Saint Hilaire states, that he found the same opinion prevalent in Brazil. 

 ( Signer Francisco Pinto, an eminent agriculturist in the province of Espirito 



< Santo, assured him as the result of his experience, that the wood which was 

 ; not felled at the full of the moon was immediately attacked by worms and very 



< soon rotted. 



In the extensive forests of Germany, the same opinion is entertained and acted 



