The New York herald., 1922-11-05


A supposed influence OF the moon on
plants, animals and the affairs of men
is found mixed with tho religious ideas
Of nearly all primitive peoples. It
stition. Most of us have turned ooin
in our pockets for luck on first seeing
the new crescent. wishing that with the
growing moon the money and our gem
eral prosperity might too be increased.
This In reality Is the Key to the origin
Of most moon beliefs. Tho moon is ono
Of the most striking Of natural objects
seen by primitive man. and tho one
which varies most in aspect BY 1850
citation OF ideas tho moons increase and
decrease is then supposed to influence
the increase and decrease of any chang
ing process.
There Is an ancient belief and one
ttat is widespread to-day that sowing
and planting must be done under wax
ing. reaping and cutting under a wan
ms moon. Presumably the crops are
things by the growing moon. The idea
lying behind harvesting or telling tim
Der beneath the waning moon is more
difficult to trace. but may be connected
with the drying influence which Is
ascribed to tho declining phases in the
same way as dew is attributed to tho
waxing and full moon. At all events
the belief is most widespread that wood
for building purposes is not durable un-
less cut after the full moon. and indeed
until the Revolution French law or
dained that trees should be felled only
under q waning moon. In Trinidad.
where the belief Is strongly held. expert
ments were recently made which demon
strated the absence OF any basis Of
truth to the superstition.
Passing now to animals. Il b prfnci-
pally on marine invertebrates that the
moon IL said to exert an influence. There
are a number of references to this IN
the classical authors. Cicero notes that
''oysters and all shellish increase and
decrease with the moon," and Pliny
states that careful observers attribute
to lunar power tho increase and de-
crease Of the bodies OF oysters and all
shellhsh." The same belief is common
to-day in many of the fish markets
around the Mediterranean and in other
parts Of the world. The amount of edi-
BILE matter in sea urchins mollusks and
crabs Is stated to vary with the phases
Of the moon: j: the animals are said to
be "full" when the moon Is full and
maintain too that the taste varies with
the moon.
With the object OF testing the truth
Of the popular statement I made eys-
tematic examinations OF sea urchins at
Suez during the summers OF 1920 and
1921. For this species of Echinoid the
reports of the fishermen turned out to
be founded on fact to a surprising de-
gree. In seeking a casual connection
between this fact and the lunar month
an influence Of the tides first suggests
itself. The higher and lower water at
the new moon springs might conceivably
react on the Echinoids by the different
hydrostatic pressure or by causing the
animals to be at greater or lesser
distance than usual from the source OF
oxygen or OF light. But the average
excess tidal range at new moon springs
over that at full moon springs during
the period studied was only 5S cent?
meters. This small difference. could
scarcely affect the urchins, for they are
not sessile animals, but move actively
and their vertical range OF migration
during the course OF an hour is often
far in excess of this figure.
Another possibility was that the light
OF the moon might act by causing the
urchins to feed either more or less on
moonlit nights. A systematic exam
ination and comparison of the gut con-
tents of specimens taken at dawn (1)
after a moonlit night and CD after a
night without a moon. showed. however
no difference either in quantity or nature
of food.
The sea urchins fished at Alexandria
are locally believed to change with the
moon in the same manner as the Suez
ones. The Alexandrian species is iden-
tical with one OF those fished and eaten
at Naples, which has apparently no
lunar cycle. How, then, are we TO ac-
count for the ancient Greek and Roman
belief in such a periodicity, and for the
present day statements in the Naples
and Alexandria fish markets? l can
only suppose that what is fact at Suez
has come uncritically TO be believed all
over Egypt, and that in very early times
the Egyptian belief was brought to
Greece, whence It spread. and has re-
mained all around the Mediterranean
coasts. In addition TO sea urchins 1t Is
believed in the Egyptian lsh markets
that the flesh of mussels and crabs va
ries in quantity with the moon.
There is evidence of reproductive
rhythm in the human race. Arrhenius
showed by a statistical investigation of
25 900 cases that there exists low CO.
relation between the frequency of births
and the tropical lunar period OF 27.S2
days. Rather more births take place In
a certain part of the tropical lunar
month than i'm the remainder. In addi-
tion there is rhythmic causative factor
having the period OF the revolution Of
tho moon. This factor Is weak and Will
only make itself felt when acting In
conjunction with tho other causes. Ar
rhenius suggests that the factor In cues
zion Is the amount OF electricity in the
atmosphere, which he has shown to vary
rhythmically with a period OF 21S2
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