Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 January 1890 — STRANGE IDEAS. [ARTICLE]

STRANGE IDEAS.

What a Great Many People Believe About the Moon. Supposed Effects on too Hind and on Many of the Ordinary Affairs of Every-Day T.iq, —Superstitions as Old as the Human Baca. Speculations concerning the nature or the moon, or the extent to which it influences terrestrial phenomena, are not confined to astronomers and other men of science who tell us that it is a dead planet devoid of atmosphere and water, for many unscientific people think it consists entirely of the latter, not to mention others who are inclined to the superstition that chalk or green cheese may enter largely into its composition, says the London Gr .phic. In fact, according to a Wiltshire legend, there was once a farmer’s wife who,, seeing the reflection of the moon in the river, thought that it was a cream cheese and endeavored to fish it out of the water with a rake. Perhaps it was as well for this worthy dame that her efforts were not crowned with success, for it is recorded that on one occasion AN UNFORTUNATE DONKEY, Having been suspected of swallowing the moon while drinking from a river, was tried in due legal form, and, on being found guilty, had its body ripped open in order that the useful planet might be liberated, once again to shine upon the world below.

Witches are thought to have more or less influence over the moon, and the heathen Chinee considers it to be, like the sun. a favorite article of diet with certain mischievous dragons, who are supposed to swallow it arid thus produce eclipses. Whether the digestive powers of one of these voracious monsters would be equal to the occasion, however, has never yet been satisfactorily proved. Possibly the sun or moon, taken in a raw state, might produce dyspepsia ; but the Celestials lose no time in making such hideous noises as may be calculated to impress the dragon with a sense of his iniquity and c use him to disgorge his strange meal with as little delay as possible. THE MAN IN THE MOON. The Canadian Indians tell their children that if they point at the moon their fingers will be bitten off. Some of the tribes of North America believe that there isa frog in it, and the Hin*dus can see on the moon’s face something very like a hare; but among ourselves the popular legends have fixed upon a man and a dog as its sole inhabitants. The man in the moon is generally supposed to have been consigned his present abode as a punishment for gathering sticks on the "Sabbath—the idea, it is said, having probpbly originated from the reference in the Book of Numbers to a man who was stoned to death for a similar offense. . rv

- The yUtenCy ul lunar influence in worldly matters was at one time almost universally acknowledged, and even now many of the errors and superstitions connected with the moon still hold their ground among the rustic population of the country. Not only is the restless ocean governed by the pale luninary of night, but a kind of tidal arrangement was supposed to exist in the bodies Of -animats, their marrow and brains fluctuating with the increase and waning of the moon. It is n popular holier that the"r .vs of" the latter. Tailing upon a sleeping person, cause his face to become distorted, and. as some aver, even deprive him of his senses; in fact, lunatics were so named from their supposed susceptibility to lunar influence, and ‘‘moonstruck” Ts a common term for a state of mental a her ration bordering on imbecility. It is still commonly supposed, as it was in the days of the Homans, that the violence of madness increases with the moon and decreases as the latter is waning, the worst paroxysms occurring when ; .the planet is at the full. —l ... 'L tme superstition that when the moon comes in and goes out on a Sunday seed plan tod during that month will not grow. Hair, it is said, should be cut at the new moon, otherwise it is liable to fall off; corns, on the other hand, should be cut during the waning of tho moon, in order that they may gradually diminish and ultimately disappear. There are also many simil r superstitions, the general idea in them being that anything which may be done before the full moon is productive of increase or growth, the contrary being the case if the moon be waning.