The Jasper weekly courier., 1866-03-17

InduencoNof the Noon on Vegetatior'
Snpeutitions die hard. Men have
"a natural love Of the marvellous, Tho
simple truth don't satisfy. We like
Sto b imposed npon, and not content
With This, we impose uPcn ourselves.
An instance oi this appears in the va
rious notions in vogue respecting the
49, influence of the moon Here are .
few Of them:--Thc rays OF the full
moon falling upon panuf milk will
turn Il sour. The light OF the moon
prudnces chill Purgalives for chill
dren operate only inAthe first quarter
OF the nom. Pork will shrink badly
N if killed in the wrong quarter. Peas
planted in the first quarter will run to
vines. Hemlock bark Peels easily in
fhe new. but not in the old OF the
moon, in August and September We
A.havs read OF man who "knew that
hickory cut in the now Of the moon
Was sale forever from worms, for he
had tried it, Venerable old mani you
a shave plucked the honcrs from Methu-
sehh.
,xThe moon. SO the astronomers show
ne, is at a mean distance from our
planet ci 24O, 900 miles--sometimes q
little further of lapogee). and some
times little nearer (perig&). 1t re-
wolves around the earth once in twen-
a. ty-seven GAYS, but, on account of the
daily revolution OF the earth on its
own axle, the moon appears 70 90
round .us once in about twenty five
hours. 1t appears larger at ore.time
than another, but this is only because
the sun shines upon more OF that opr-
tion of the surface which we see. The
r.ssine quantity Of matter rcvolves
waFound ne Sat the first quarter D! the
moon as at:the full moon, only we dc
tnst see t.
Does the moon, then, affect MS by
attractionl This acts on ali matter
alike, and it diminishes inverscly as
the square of the distance. The in
fiuence OF the moons attraction mus
be nearly uniform and constant, not
dependent on the mere fact of its Civ
ing light or not. As it passes over n
every day Of the year, at nearly th'
same distance. why should not its at
tracting power be about equal every
day. Yet people never think ri ths
moons power when it 10 not visible
Consider, too, its parsllvely smal
bulk-only about one seventieth th'
quantity Of matter Of our globe--ant
its immense distance from us Il j
suprpsable that its attracting powcl
can influence the rise and fail Of th'
sap in vegetables, or the flow Of bIoot
in animals!
Sill, it,can not be denied that tn
moon produces mechanical effects OF
our globe. its influence TO gfea
extent causes tue tides Of the ocean
Yet il does not sensibiy affect the sur
) face of onr lakes and rivers; and il
does not influence those great inlan,
seas, is il likely that il altecfs the jul
ces in The stalks Of peas, or ihc sap i
hemlocks.
As to the heat Of the lunar ray. n
great claip will he set up for il y
anybody. The effect of ihe moon
ray is 50 slight on ordinary plants q
to be entirely impcrccptible. and (
no practical account. An astfonom
cal professor at our elbow observe
that the reflection Of light from
white cloud BY day Is stronger tha
that from thc full moon. Indeed, OF
friend was about right when BE- a
fimcd that the moonlight cb lied hin
Experiments have been tried with til
most delicate thermometers, and nt
(. the least impression was prodnced.
On the whole, We cannot find iths
these moon struck people have mnc
beside Inoon-sflinc in their theories
Those'with whom we have happcne
70 talk, seemed about as serious an
wise as the farmer who gravdy sale
"And alters took notice, D las il
stun-wall, particularly ID the full (
the mocp, that the foundation stu
alters cum next to.lhe gronnd!'
Nv