Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-06-03
aunsraIitIons Abont the Moon

HupeFHlttoAS ABOUT tho MOOms
London Society
If we accepted every prejudice or
notion about the moon we would
rule many things beside the wealth
er. There are veterinary surgeons
who say that the sight of certain
horses become dim or clear accord
ing to the phases of the moon.
Woodmen insist that if the trees are
felled with a waning moon that the
wood will speedily decay. House
wives declare that if you kill your
pig, as you ought, with a crescent
moon, the bacon will swell nicely
in the boiling; if, on the contrary,
when she is in the wane, it will
shrivel, shrink, and be hard and
good for nothing. Finally, all sail
ors in mass, except the most
highly educated officers, attribute
every change of weather to the
moon. Why? Nobody knows.
Suchlike prejudices must be ac-
cepted, and their truth taken for
granted, without discussion. There
is no want of instances. 1t is e1-
actly because prejudices are beyond
the reach of discussion that it is
difficult to bring them to reason.
Natural philosophers have perfect
ly explained the phenomena at.
tributed TO la lune rousse, the red
moon, which are really caused by
the state of the atmosphere. Gar
deners, nevertheless, persist in max
r ing the red moon (the lunation be-
( tween the Paschal and the Pente
: costal moons) responsible for tht
: morning frosts which frequentl,
{ occur at that season. But tn
ancients never entertained the idei
4 that the moons phases were tn,
/. cause of changes in the weather
/ lit was Jupter's privilege to assem-
: BILE the clouds and to dart TIL
thunderbolts. The lucky and un
x lucky days of the lunar month be
z long to astrology and to meteor
: ology.
y; Bourvard, Arago, and many 9th
| ers have proved, by long series o
/. observations, that that moon doe
n not affect the weather. Labor il
# vainl The majority of sailors in
l. terpret the moons age, each accord
h ing 10 his own private rule of be
a lief. The only effectual refutatiol
.e would be to strike at the root OF til
d evil in early youth, and max
school children repeatedly recit
e and copy truthful sentences, sue
II as: "Itis ridiculous to believe i
! sorcerers, witches, were-wolves an
It red moons;" "it is not Itrue tha
5. the new moon changes the weather
that the full moon eats up tn
clouds, that thunderbolts are mad
of stone;" and other items of tn
vulgar creed. Accurate knowledg
of facts might thus be promoted b
catechism OF things not to be b.
: lieved. An infallible mode of di
r proving the supposed connectio
N between the phases Of the moo
Is and the changes of the weather
Up to keep a register of both. If sue
III a physical connection really exist
IA the discrepancies, surely academia
W will be few in number; and I'll
Il. wider the range of cases recorded
ls the smaller viii be the proportio
is of disagreements compared wit
ii the total number of cases. In fac
r the thing has been already done /
er serious meteorologists, who ha'
S. undertaken the ungrateful task
er submitting popular dicta to the te
it of facts. From Sera6ni's obsery
's- tions at Vigevana, comprisin
ne thirty-eight years, it was inierre
e. "In every case we may conclud
re in opposition to the vulgar opinio
IT. that it is vain to expect from Il
10. nuarters of tho moon anV DrnSal