“Not the least. At any rate there is no scientific evidence whatever for such statements, and no probability that they are based on facts. They are the result of faulty observation, misled by coincidences. It is _imaginable_ that the light of the moon might have some influence upon vegetable growth if it were an original kind of light coming from the moon herself. But moonlight is only reflected sunlight, and when we examine it with the spectroscope we do not find that the rays of light in visiting the moon and returning thence to the earth have had either anything added to or anything taken away from them, except intensity. The total amount of light reflected from the moon upon the earth is estimated to be about 1/618000 of the total amount that comes to us from the sun. Curiously enough the moon appears to reflect proportionally more heat than light, the amount of lunar heat received by the earth being reckoned at 1/185000 of the amount coming from the sun. The popular idea that the moon affects the movement of sap in plants is equally illusory.” “But about the weather? I know people who believe that a change of the moon from one phase to another brings about a change of weather. Is that true?” “Certainly it is not true. The moon is changing its apparent form all the time. There is no sudden alteration at any phase. The popular belief, however, has always been so firmly fixed that many investigations have been made to ascertain whether there is, in reality, any foundation for it. These investigations have shown that no measurable effect of the kind exists.” “And the Full Moon does not drive away clouds, as some assert?” “Surely she does not. I will now tell you something that the persons who plant and sow and cut timber according to the phases of the moon, and who believe that she exercises a kind of magic control over the clouds, probably have never heard of, although if they knew it they might use it as an argument in favor of lunar influences. It is this: The alternate approach and retreat of the moon with respect to the earth, as she travels round her elliptical orbit, produce measurable, although slight, disturbances of the magnetism of our planet. The distance of the moon varies to the extent of about 30,000 miles. Now, if it could be shown that these magnetic disturbances were reflected in the character of the weather, then the supposed influence of the moon would be established. But that has not been shown, and if it were shown it would still be found that the phases of the moon had no relation to the fact, for the moon may be at its greatest or its least distance from the earth, or at any intermediate distance during any possible phase.”