19G TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



eats up the clouda, and Whcwell and Qnetelet have proved the truth of this 

 observation, by showing that more rain falls in the dark of the moon than 

 in its second or third quarters. 



" So much for the influence of the moon upon vegetable and plant life. 

 There are too many well authenticated proofs of its effects, to doubt its 

 influence upon the lumian 83'stem. Persons sleeping in the moonshine have 

 suffered malformation of the face, and very recently in Ohio, occurred a 

 striking instance of lunar influence. A boy 14 years of age, slept through- 

 out a moonlight night in a corn-field. Some laborers the next morning on 

 their way to work, seeing the boy apparently asleep, aroused him ; the boy 

 opened his eyes, but declared he could not see. He was removed to an 

 occular institution, and the surgeon aflirmed, after an examination, that the 

 loss of sight resulted in sleeping in the moonshine. The boy is totally 

 blind, and few hopes are entertained of his restoration to sight." 



Mr. S. H. Oathout, Hardin, Clayton county, Iowa, says : " I commenced 

 sowing barley the last day of the old moon (the moon changed from old to 

 new about 11 o'clock a. m.), and sowed until about 10 o'clock, then quit ; 

 left bags and grain in the field. At 1 o'clock commenced again, and fin- 

 ished. This I done for the purpose of trying the experiment, a]id was 

 careful to note the result. The barley sowed in the eld of the moon stood 

 the usual height, heads long and large, and were well filled, the grains 

 plump and heavy. That part sowed in the new of the moon stood about 

 ten inches higher than the other, heads short and small, poorly filled, grains 

 light and pointed. Here in this case the old of the moon furnished nearly 

 double the grain of the new, and the new of the moon furnished nearly 

 double the amount of straw of the old. The distinction between the two 

 times of sowing was as plain to be seen as if one-half of the field had been 

 raised up 10 inches. Many men saw this field of barley, and wondered at 

 the difference." 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — We do not wonder that they did, but we do wonder 

 that it never occurred to Mr. Oathout, that the difference in growth might 

 have been occasioned by the condition of the soil, or from the previous 

 crop, or the influence of the position of the sun instead of the moon. We 

 have known as great a difference in the appearance of a crop, occasioned 

 by the time of year that the prairie was broken, and this difference will 

 continue several years. It is surely a matter of wonder that a man of 

 sense can have his mind so biased by old time theories, about the influ- 

 ence of the moon, as to believe that a difference of three hours in the time 

 of sowing seed, would produce the different results which he has stated. 



Adjourned. 



John W. Ciiaubers, Secretary. 



^ ■ December I, 1863. 



Mr. Nathan 0. Ely in the chair. 



Exchange of Seeds. 



A letter written from Iowa says, that the notice that ho grew a superior 

 kind of sugar corn brought him so many letters, that he believes that if 

 some regular system of exchange of seeds could be adopted, it would prove 



