Evening star., 1951-07-06
Insects Far More Active
On Nights Of New Moon
British Scientists Report on
Stimulating Effect of Light
By Thomas R. Henry
: surges with the new moon.

Life surges with the new moon.
Several curious effects of the stimu-
lating quality of it's light have been
postulated. although without acceptable
scientific proof.
Now, it appears, insects are far more
active on nights when there is new
moon in the sky than during a full
moon period. Tests supporting this have
been carried out by Drs C. B. Williams
and B. P. Singh at the Rothhampstead
Agricultural Experiment Station in
England
In previous experiments it was found
that far more bugs were trapped on
new-moon nights. The traps used, how
ever, depend on the attraction of lights
to draw the insects. 1t was objected that
this effect might be expected. In the
dim light of the new moon the arti-
fetal lights of the traps would stand
out more strongly than in full moon
light.
New Kind of Trap Used.
The English experimenters used new
kind of trap depending on suction ap-
pliance to draw in most Of the bugs
within certain area. They found their
catches averaged fivefold greater on
new-moon nights. This indicates that
there must have been at least five times
as many insects on the wing.
Bug life apparently is quite quiescent
during full moonlight. It represented
the lowest phase Of the catches. Bugs
seem to have stayed home during such
nights. The trap light factor could be
dismissed entirely in calculation OF the
results.
This seems to be about the most care
fully controlled experimentation yet
known on the effects of the moon on
life. No explanation is offered. The ef-
fects, it is observed, may be purely
physiological, purely psychological. or
combination of both.
The activity during the new-moon
period might be largely connected with
mating, rather than feeding.
All familiar types of insects, the Eng
lish experimenters report. seem to have
been equally affected.
Space is almost empty.
It's average density is less than $780,
000th Of a pound of matter in an area
as large as the earth.
This is the conclusion reported to the
American Astronomical Society by
Yerkes Observatory astronomers. 1t was
reached by determining the total masses
of several representative galaxies OF
stars, each comparable in size to the
Milky Way galaxy which includes all Wis
ible objects in the heavens which occur
in pairs. The members of such pairs
revolve around each other, just as do
double stars in the Milky Way.
DR.. Thornton Page studied the spectra
of the light coming from such galaxies.
Thus he was able to estimate their veloc-
tiles With this data compared with
their known distances and apparent sep
arations. he was able to determine the
total mass of each member of such a
system.
Average Double Galaxy.
The average double galaxy, he found.
has a mass $4,000, 900 .000, 900 times that
of the sun. This is at least tenfold the
estimated mass of the average galaxy
of stars, but only about a fourth the
total mass OF the Milky Way galaxy,
which is assumed to be a super giant.
The Milky Way galaxy itself is known
not to be double. It has two small
galaxies the Clouds of Magellan, which
are relatively close at hand but do not
revolve around it and are too small to
be considered companions. The double
galaxies measured by DR.. Page were
thousands of light years away.
They are believed to be quite repre-
sentative of the average major star
family in the universe. The space be-
tween the pairs is enormous.
Hence comes the estimate of the emp
tiness of the universe. known space
would be an almost complete vacuum
If all the matter it contained were dis
tributed equally instead of being con-
centrated into these vast aggregations
of stars.