Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1886-02-17
ARE THE MOONS RAYS HURTFUL,
Some Rather singular Notions In Regard
to Its Eject Upon Materials.

some Rather singular Notions In Regard
TO Its Eject Upon Materials.
A subscriber to the La Semaines des
CONSTRUCTORS describes some singular
notions in regard to the effects of moon
light on various materials, particularly
those employed in building, which prevail
in the French provinces. Several writers
in matters Of construction, including
Violet -le- Due, have adverted to the opin-
ion common among masons that moon.
light produces a sort Of honeycombing OF
the surfaces Of certain kinds of stone,
sowing" as one of the architects of the
last century says, ITO the dampness and
GOODNESS Of the moons rays Niollet-le-
Due prefers TO lay the damage which in
contestibly occurs on the south side of
buildings constructed Of porous stone 10
the rays of the sun, rather than those Of
the moon, and explains IL by pointing out
that the suns rays often In winirr cause
violent changes in the temperature of
dark stone placed in its light, sometimes
raising the surface in a few hours from
far below the freezing point To Il degree of
warmth quite perceptible To the hand: so
that the south side of walls or columns
undergo strains from Sudden expansion
and contraction which are not felt on the
shaded side.
The French country people, however, do
not share this opinion. Among the women
II is regarded as q well-known fact that
moonlight is not only more injurious than
sunlight to the complexion but that silk
and wooden materials are faded more rap
idly by the moons rays than by the bright
est sunshine, while the men think it only
natural that an agent so powerful in its
effects upon these Substances should act
unfavorably upon stone. Many OF them,
indeed, 90 much farther. and attribute to
the moonlight an influence upon iron
hardly less baneful than lis effect on
stone, and many poor farmers, who have
no sheds under which Ia shelter their
wagons and iron tools build rough screens
facing the south, behind which all their
ironwork can be protected from the moon
light.
1t is still supposed by thousands Of
French farmers that the rays of the full
moon in spring burn the leaves of their
growing vegetables; but this notion has
been satisfactorily explained by the OBJ
servation that In clear nights in spring
tHt iht itoNto vi
plants near the ground is ofteu so rapid
as to chill them below the freezing point,
so that they become curled and brown
even when the temperature of the air over
them is considerably above freezing; and
it is probable that some of the injurious
effects attributed to moonlight upon other
objects may be accounted for in the same
way. Every one knows that dew will rust
iron and steel more rapidly than almost
any other natural agent: and as n screen
interposed between wagon or pillow and
the sky would, by intercepting the radia-
ton from it, prevent the deposition Of dew
upon the metal, it can be easily seen that
such a screen might, during the clear
nights in which dew is formed, serve as q
valuble protection TO the farmers tools,
without reference to the shade which IL
would afford from the moons rays
American Architect