Daily Kennebec journal., 1913-12-15
MOON A MISCHIEF MAKER.
p.v. Of Lunar Body Said to Have
nas;d.d 49, eject on Organic Substances

hoye always said the devi
n the moon for mischief, anu 'no
.a+orv effect of the moon upon ior
49,, ewa,ns and maids Is too wen hno"N
o.. comment. Following close upon .Ne
.,,ory ~ Prof. Wood, of johns HophiiiS'
- found that moonlight exerts d Pc
II. ,neuence upon certain chemicals
so,,,as prof. Bryant British scientls''
with new proof that the man IA
moon is a mischief maker
N1.ny analogous and related eeliels
hova to do with dangers to persons VINO
- ,orcea m sleep out of doors exposed
20 the full glare of the moon, especiaiiS
a tropical moon directed luily !"
face of the sleeper. It is unnecessary 10
discuss this as only troplcal ehee'' oe
cause the very next farmer you meet
hereabouts will tell you OF damage ooiie
by moonlight to newly sown seeos' aiiu
how sheet must be thrown over soahe
bulbs at night of full moon.
Suddenly, in his laboratory, 1t occurreu
10 DIR. Bryant to test the idea that all OF
these effects of the moon, IL true' ue-
mend upon the well-established fact that
the light of the moon, since II is re-
fIected light, from the sun, is more OF
less polarized Polarized light, or, as
the scholars say. polarization" is the
quality or power that light has of hav-
ing its rays turned away from the zen
it'll or North Pole. 1t is sort or turn
ing around of the waves of light similar
to what the hands of a clock make Wheh
thew leave l o'clock. Twelve o'clock is
the pole. and the rays are repelled from
such a point when light is polarized.
If reflected light is examined by ply
sicist with an instrument called the
polariseope, it is always found to con-
tain some polarized light. The polari-
scope is merely a glass made of quartz
or some similar material, which easily
filters out and shows the different di-
rections in which light is turned from
the poles When light is fully polarized.
its rays are all turned in one way or
one Alane. Ordinary light has its waves
goin !. in all planes or directions at the
same time.
1t so happens that some minerals and
substances will only permit rays of
light to pass through them as those
rays come in one plane. To all other
rays of the same light the crystal or
mineral is Opaque. Thus, as light is
shows or selects only those which cor
respond to it's preference. Quartz is on
ly one of many such Things. 1t is used
in a polariscope If the light of the
moon is thus analyzed it is found to be
"polarized.
Now, it is no new thing to learn that
the moons light is thus detected. But
Bryant searched all the authorities, but
could find no one who had ever thought
to examine polarized light with regard
to any possible chemical effect from it
Therefore, the British savant began
his experiments with the hope that such
effects would be found. A few of his
experiments were made with a zoo
candle-power Osram lamp. Later tests
were carried out with 52-candle-power
carbon hlament lamps The light from
these electric bulbs were polarized by
means of pile of seven sheets of plate
glass, backed with silver mirror. In
this way the reflected light of the moon
from the sun was duplicated In the la
boratory. More powerful beams of light
than those used will only serve to con-
firm Dr. Bryant's discoveries.
He obtained the most surprising results
with fish. He cut up slices Of fish and
hung some OF them up before the direct
rays of light. and others from the same
fish in the reflected or poiarized beams
The fish In the polarized light decayed
long before the other Slices although the
heat was several degrees lower than In
the direct light
Then tests were made with seeds,
plants, meat, jam, cane-sugar solution
and other things In every case the no.
larized light had decided effect upon the
organic substances.-New York Ameri-
can.
Parcel post merchandise going out of