COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
75 
Article X.—COLLECTIONS AND RECOLLECTIONS. 
Influence of the Moon. —In considering the climate of tropi¬ 
cal countries, the influence of the moon seems to be entirely over¬ 
looked; and surely, if the tides of the vast ocean are raised from 
their fathomless bed by lunar power, it is not much to assert that the 
tides of the atmosphere are liable to a similar influence; this much is 
certain, that, in the low lands of tropical countries, no attentive ob¬ 
server of nature will fail to witness the power exercised by the moon 
over the seasons, and also over animal and vegetable nature. As re¬ 
gards the latter, it may be stated, that there are certainly thirteen 
springs and tliirteeu autumns, in Demerara, in the year ; for so many 
times does the sap of trees ascend to the branches and descend to the 
roots. For example, wallaba (resinous tree, common in the Deme¬ 
rara woods, somewhat resembling mahogany,) if cut down in the dark, 
a few days before the new moon, it is one of the most durable woods 
in the world for house-building, posts, &c.; in that state attempt 
to split it, and, with the utmost difficulty, it would be riren in the 
most jagged unequal manner that can be imagined; cut down another 
wallaba (that grew within a few yards of the former) at full moon, 
and the tree can he easily split into the finest smooth shingles of 
any desired thickness, or into staves for making casks; but, in this 
state, applied to house-building purposes, it speedily decays. Again 
—bamboos, as thick as a man’s arm, are sometimes used for paling, 
&c.: if cut at the dark moon, they will invariable endure for ten or 
twelve years; if at full moon, they will he rotten in two or three 
years ; thus it is with the most, if not all, the forest trees. Of the 
effects of the moon on animal life, very many instances could be cited. 
I have seen in Africa, newly-littered young perish, in a few hours, 
at the mothers side, if exposed to the rays of the full moon ; fish be¬ 
come rapidly putrid, and meat, if left exposed, incurable or unpre- 
servable by salt;—the mariner, heedlessly sleeping on the deck, be¬ 
coming afflicted with nyctolopia or night blindness, at times the face 
hideously swollen if exposed during sleep to the moon’s rays, the 
maniac’s paroxysms renewed with fearful vigour at the s full and change, 
and the cold damp chill of the ague supervening on the ascendancy 
of this apparently mild yet powerful luminary. Let her influence 
over this earth be studied; it is more powerful than is generally 
known.” —Martins History of the British Colonies. 
Influence of the Moon upon the Atmosphere. —An astro¬ 
nomer at Viviers has for some time been occupied in investigations on 
the subject. He states, among other results, that under lunar influ- 
