p. 151 | Effects of Moonlight

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 25, 1871

Effects of Moonlight.

THERE is a popular impression that the moon exerts a marked influence on vegetation; and the weather-seers are largely guided by the changes of that luminary. Mr. Coffin, in his recent book, “Our New Way Round the World,” thus writes of its effects on man within the tropics. He is in India: “The moon is at the full, pouring its rays from the zenith straight down upon us, with a power which is almost as unbearable as that of the sun at mid-day. There is no heat in its rays, but they have great effect on the brain. The blood rushes to the head, and there is a sense of fullness and pressure which, although not attended by acute pain, is exceedingly unpleasant. We find it necessary to keep our umbrellas spread at midnight as well as midday. It is dangerous to sleep in the moonlight in the tropics. In this country we can see new beauty in those words of the psalmist, expressive of God's care for those who love him: “The sun shall not smite thee by day, nor the moon by night.”