136 History of Nature. [BooK II. 



that with her growth all Shell-fish increase : and those Crea- 

 tures which have no Blood, most of all do feel her Spirit. 

 Also, the Blood in Men doth increase or diminish with her 

 Light ; and the Leaves of Trees and the Fodder (as shall be 

 said in a convenient Place) feel her Influence; which, ever- 

 more the same, pierceth effectually into all Things. 



CHAPTER C. 

 The Power of the Sun, and why the Sea is salt. 



THUS by the fervent Heat of the Sun all Moisture is dried 

 up : for we have been taught that this Planet is masculine, 

 burning and sucking up the Humidity of all Things. Thus 

 the broad and spacious Sea hath the Taste of Salt sodden into 

 it : or else it is because, when the sweet and thin Substance 

 is drawn out of it, which the fiery Power of the Sun very 

 easily draweth up, all the sharper and grosser Parts thereof 



which was believed to be the cause of the tides requires no further re- 

 mark, than that the cause and effect are acknowledged, and that the mode 

 of influence is the only subject of error. The moon's influence in causing 

 shell-fish and vegetables to increase and decrease, was believed by Aris- 

 totle, and maintained its place in the popular opinion until a late date. 

 But in tropical countries it is regarded as beyond all doubt, that the 

 bright shining of the moon has a deleterious effect on all bodies exposed 

 to it ; and the fact is implicitly credited by many Europeans who have in- 

 quired into it. Thus, slaughtered cattle so exposed, are believed to pass 

 into speedy putrefaction ; its influence on eyes when asleep, causes blind- 

 ness, and on the head a tendency to delirium or death. The antiquity 

 and extent of these opinions appear from Psalm cxxi. ; where the writer 

 expresses his trust, that " the sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the 

 moon by night." But the influence is not always hurtful : at least on 

 vegetation ; for, in the blessing of Moses at the time of his death, on the 

 tribe of Joseph, he speaks of" the precious things put forth by the moon" 

 (Deut. xxxiii. 14). Dr.Prichard ("Egyptian Mythology," p. 156) says: 

 " The idea that the moon exerts an influence favourable to propagation, is 

 so strange and absurd, that we are at a loss to imagine how it can have 

 arisen ; and it is truly astonishing to find that similar fictions were ex- 

 tended through a great part of the Pagan world. Young maids among 

 the Greenlanders are afraid to stare long at the moon, imagining that they 

 incur a danger of becoming pregnant." Sec chap. ci.~ Wern, Club. 



