The bee., 1883-06-30
BY THE LIGHT OF THE Moov
Does Fair Luna Exercise n Mvstto
enCe on Man.

ence on Man.
The statement that the moon aeoo.
the human body may at first s;,h.
seem nonsense, but the fact is wbou
we examine it a little, it does NOT a.
pear so absurd after all. The nooa-
certainly exercises an Influence oro-
fluids on the earth, and the bnm,a
body is about three-fourths water 7.
is said that if we put human bodn
into an oven and make it perfectly dr..
it will 60 down from $50 to abort 4,
pounds.
People who are born when the MON
IS rising are more subject to her ipar
ence in after life than others Tho
frequently have the habit os wal.;r
in their sleep, and about the time a,
her fulling they are greatly subject ,,
dreams Another curious thing is,b,.
if near-sighted, their eyes grow mora
dim at the opposition and the cbapoo
1t is also well known that tbera a..
animals-hOrses, for instance-wbicb
are mOon-eyed; that is, their siobt +,
better or worse through the month o.
corning to the condition Of the moon
The same is said Of some dogs
A whole volume might be filed with
the literature of the moon-no. ort.
the astrological notions attached :,
her, but the curious myths and leoards
Nothing is better known than that the
insane are affected by her beams at
certain seasons, and yet there are some
doctors who deny it, The famous
English physician, Forbes Winslow,
who made an exhaustive investigation
Of the subject, in summing up the vari.
GUS theories as to how the moon act,
upon the demented, says it is imposs.
bic to ignore the evidence of such men
as Pinel, Daquin. Guislain and others.
The astrological idea is that the planet
acts on the moist matter Of the brain.
Some of the French psychologists
thought that the insane were observed
to be more troublesome when the
moon was full because the light would
naturally make them so. preventing
them from sleeping. But this is a
very poor explanation, for, although
the moon is at her full every month
the nights are not always bright
there may be a week or more OF cloudi-
ness but the restlesSnesS and excite
ment among the lunatics is seen to be
just the same, and to exist by day as
well as after dark. Mr.. WinsIow'S
suggestion was as follows: "1Iay not
the alleged changes observed among
the insane at certain phases of th8
moon arise not from the direct but the
indirect influence of the planet? 1t is
we'll known that the rarity of the air.
the electric conditions of the atmos-
phere, the degree of heat, dryneSS
moisture, and amount of wind prevail
ing, are all more or less modified by
the state of the moon. In the general.
ity of bodily diseases what obliyious
changes are observed to accompany
the meteorological condition referred
to? Surely those suffering from dis
eases of the brain and nervous system
affecting the mind, cannot with any
degree of reason be considered as eX-
empt from the operations Of agencies
that are universally admitted to affect
patients afflicted with other diseases
He gives an instance further on OF
lady of much intelligence employed as
a matrOn in his establishment for in
sane ladies during some five years, who
informed him that the period Of the
full moon invariably created a great
agitation among the patients.-Boitl-
more NeJEc