474 



LUNAR INFLUENCES. 



It is a curious circumstance that this erroneous prejudice prevails on the 

 American continent. M. Auguste de Saint Hiliare states, that in Brazil cul- 

 tivators plant during the decline of the moon, all vegetable whose roots are 

 used as food, and, on the contrary, they plant during the increasing moon, 

 the sugar-cane, maize, rice, beans, &c., and those which bear the food upon 

 their stocks and branches. Experiments, however, were made and reported by 

 M.de Chauvalon, at Martinique, on vegetables of both kinds planted at different 

 limes in the lunar month, and no appreciable difference in their qualities was 

 discovered. 



There are some traces of a principle in the rule adopted by the South 

 American agronornes, according to which they treat the two classes of plants 

 distinguished by the production of fruit on their roots or on their branches dif- 

 ferently ; but there are none in the European aphorisms. The directions of 

 Pliny are still more specific : he prescribes the time of the full moon for sow- 

 ing beans, and that of the new moon for lentils. " Truly," says M. Arago, 

 " we have need of a robust faith to admit without proof that the moon, at the 

 distance of 240, 000 miles, shall in one position act advantageously upon the 

 vegetation of beans, and that in the opposite position, and at the same distance, 

 she shall be propitious to lentils." 



Supposed Lunar Influence on Grain. Pliny states that if we would collect 

 grain for the purpose of immediate sale, we should do so at the full of the 

 moon ; because, during the moon's increase the grain augments remarkably in 

 magnitude : but if we would collect the grain to preserve it, we should choose 

 the new moon, or the decline of the moon. 



So far as it is consistent with observation that more rain falls during the in- 

 crease of the moon than during its decline, there may be some reason for this 

 maxim ; but Pliny, or those from whom we receive the maxim, can barely have 

 credit for grounds so rational : besides which, the difference in the quantity of 

 rain which falls during the two periods is too insignificant to produce the 

 effects here adverted to. 



Supposed Lunar Influence on Wine-making. It is a maxim of wine-growers, 

 that wine which has been made in two moons is never of a good quality, and 

 cannot be clear. Toaldo, the celebrated Italian meteorologist, whose mind ap- 

 pears to have been predisposed for the reception of lunar prejudice, attempts 

 to justify this maxim. " The vinous fermentation," he says, " can only be car- 

 ried on in two moons when it begins immediately before the new moon ; and, 

 consequently, that this being a time when the enlightened side of the moon is 

 turned for the most part from the earth, our atmosphere is deprived of the heat 

 of the lunar rays ; that therefore the temperature of the air is lowered, and the 

 fermentation is less active. 



To this we need only answer, that the moon's rays do not affect the temper- 

 ature of the air to the extent of one thousandth part of a degree of the ther- 

 mometer, and that the difference of temperatures of any two neighboring places 

 in which the process of making the wine of the same soil and vintage might be 

 conducted, must be a thousand times greater at any given moment of time, and 

 yet no one ever imagines that such a circumstance can affect the quality of the 

 wine. 



It is a maxim of Italian wine merchants, that wine ought never to be trans- 

 ferred from one vessel to another in the month of January or March, unless in 

 the decline of the moon, under penalty of seeing it spoiled. 



Toaldo has not favored us with any physical reason for this maxim ; but it 

 is remarkable that Pliny, on the authority of Hyginus, recommends precisely 

 the opposite course. We may presume that from such contrary rules, it may 

 reasonably be inferred that the moon has no influence whatever in this case. 



