Aninteresting summary of tho^moon's inttuem-o on the weather is^given by Mr. Fred H. Tower Tho^question turns on the widely preva^^lent, popular notion that tho moon's^changes bring alxnit changes in Um^weather; that moonlight has a cer^^tain influence on the clouds, and that^sleeping in moonlight is dangerous.^The scientists, however, find noth^^ing to warrant such a belief after^careful study.
Indirecting the most powerful^lenses and reflectors toward the^moou and then placing in their fo^^cus the most sensitive thermometer^nothing has ever been discovered^that could lead to the conclusion that^heat or cold was produced directly^or through reflection. According to^the most delicate wqK'riuients of the^most famous scientists, the heat ot^the lunar rays which reach the earth^is scarcely t welve-millionths of a de^^gree
Themoon's light has been found^to be about 3UO,000 times less than^that of the sun, and, according to^Professor Young, a sky completely^covered with full moons would give^only one-eighth of the light we get^from the sun. It thus seems improb^^able that the moon has any appreci^able meteorological influence. M^Camille Flammarion, the astrono^^mer, says, ^Tlie luminous or calorific^action of our satellite is so feeble^that it by no means explains the Jtop^ular prejudices.
Apossible source of influence is^the tides produced in the air by the^attraction of the moon. It is unques^^tioned that such tides ure produced^in the atmosphere just as on the^ocean, but here again the most care^^ful tests reveal no more changes than^would be expressed by a rise or fall^of some hundredths of an inch in the^barometric column. Tho daily-^changes due to other caustis show va^^riations of from a half inch to L'J^inches,and tho measuroof the moon's^influence would bo in the way of pe^^riodic daily changes. They are thus^too slight to be considered.
