48 DO THE CHANGES OF THE MOON AFFECT THE RAINFALL? 



Sailors especially are great believers in the influence of the 

 moon on the weather. 



I believe it will be found that, where ideas have become 

 deeply rooted and widely spread, it is very seldom, if ever, 

 that they have not some foundation in fact, though the fact 

 may have been distorted, and the truth more or less obscured. 



We have been assured, however, by some whose names 

 carry great weight, and whose statements on such matters 

 we should not venture to question, except on the clearest 

 evidence, that the popular notion is a mere delusion, and 

 that the moon's changes have no influence on the weather. 



Dr. E. J. Mann, vice-president of the Meteorological 

 Society, in an article on " High Clouds and Moonshine," in 

 " Science for All," part 52, says : — " Amongst the long 

 prevalent notions that have been held concerning the changes 

 of the weather, there are, perhaps, none that have been more 

 generally entertained and cherished than those which connect 

 them with what are termed the changes, or, in other words,, 

 recurring phases of illumination of the moon. These notions, 

 in all probability, were in the first instance derived from the 

 accidental coincidence of certain marked conditions of 

 weather with particular aspects of the moon, and from the 

 natural tendency which exists in the minds of superficially 

 instructed people to ascribe to the heavenly bodies a power 

 over human events. A very few words of comment will, 

 nevertheless, suffice to expose the fallacy of this illusion. The 

 proposition, however, to which these remarks are addressed is, 

 it must be remarked, not simply and in a general sense that 

 the moon affects the weather experienced upon the earth, but 

 that the mere aspects of the moon's varying illumination exert 

 an especial influence upon the weather of each particular 

 locality and spot. 



" The utter irrationality and absurdity of this idea becomes 

 apparent at a glance the instant it is connected with the 

 obvious fact that the earth is a rotating and not a fixed globe. 

 Assuming, for the mere purpose of illustration, that it were 

 true the new moon, the half moon, and the full moon 

 produced some especial state, whether of storm or of calm, 

 whether of rain or of dryness upon some given spot on the' 

 earth, as this passes round in front of the sun-illumined 

 orb, it is manifest the same influence must continue to 

 be exerted entirely round the earth during the subsequent 

 twenty-five hours in which the terrestrial sphere whirls 

 completely round before the moon ;" and so on. Further on, 

 he says: — " If the phases of the moon affected the weather, 

 it is obvious that the same weather would prevail wherever 

 analogous relations to the moon obtained. 



" The moon, as a matter of fact, does produce a physical 



