d the weather, the following decisive
opinion is expressed: "From all that has been stated, it follows then,
conclusively, that the popular notions concerning the influence of the
lunar phases on the weather have no foundation in the theory, and no
correspondence with observed facts."[37]

[37] Ibid., p. 419-420.

TIME FOR FELLING TIMBER.--In another lecture on lunar influences, Dr.
Lardner observes that "there is an opinion generally entertained that
timber should be felled only during the decline of the moon; for if it
be cut down during its increase, it will not be of a good or durable
quality. This impression prevails in various countries. It is acted upon
in England, and is made the ground of legislation in France. _The forest
laws of the latter country interdict the cutting of timber during the
increase of the moon._ In the extensive forests of Germany, the same
opinion is entertained and acted upon, with the most undoubting
confidence in its truth. Sauer, a superintendent of some of these
districts, assigns what he believes to be its physical cause. According
to him, the increase of the moon causes the sap to ascend in the timber,
and, on the other hand, the decrease of the moon causes it to descend.
If the timber, therefore, be cut during the decrease of the moon, it
will be cut in a dry state, the sap having retired, and the wood,
therefore, will be compact, solid, and durable. But if it be cut during
the increase of the moon, it will be felled with the sap in it, and will
therefore be more spongy, more easily attacked by worms, more difficult
to season, and more readily split and warped by changes of temperature.

"Admitting for a moment the reality of this supposition concerning the
motion of the sap, it would follow that the proper time for felling the
timber would be _the new moon_, that being the epoch at which the
descent of the sap would have been made, and the ascent not yet
commenced. But can there be imagined, in the whole range of natural
science, a physical relation more extraordinary and unaccountable than
this supposed correspondence between the movement of the sap and the
phases of the moon? Assuredly theory affords not the slightest
countenance to such a supposition; but let us inquire as to the fact
whether it be really the case that the quality of timber depends upon
the state of the moon at the time it is felled.

"M. Duhamel Monceau, a celebrated French agriculturist, has made direc