NPNF2-08. Basil: Letters and Select Works - Holy Bible Institute

The creation of luminous bodies.I believe also that the variations of the moon do not take place without exerting greatinfluence upon the organization of animals and of all living things. This is because bodiesare differently disposed at its waxing and waning. When she wanes they lose their densityand become void. When she waxes and is approaching her fulness they appear to fillthemselves at the same time with her, thanks to an imperceptible moisture that she emitsmixed with heat, which penetrates everywhere. 1598 For proof, see how those who sleepunder the moon feel abundant moisture filling their heads; 1599 see how fresh meat is quicklyturned under the action of the moon; 1600 see the brain of animals, the moistest part ofmarine animals, the pith of trees. Evidently the moon must be, as Scripture says, ofenormous size and power to make all nature thus participate in her changes.11. On its variations depends also the condition of the air, as is proved by sudden disturbances which often come after the new moon, in the midst of a calm and of a stillness inthe winds, to agitate the clouds and to hurl them against each other; as the flux and refluxin straits, and the ebb and flow of the ocean prove, so that those who live on its shores seeit regularly following the revolutions of the moon. The waters of straits approach and retreatfrom one shore to the other during the different phases of the moon; but, when she is new,they have not an instant of rest, and move in perpetual swaying to and fro, until the moon,reappearing, regulates their reflux. As to the Western sea, 1601 we see it in its ebb and flow891598 cf. Alcman (ap. Plut., Sympos. iii. 10) who calls the dew Διὸς θυγάτηρ καὶ Σελάνας; and Plutarch himselfin loc. Virg., Georg. iii. 337, “Roscida Luna,” and Statius, Theb. i. 336: “Iamque per emeriti surgens confinia PhœbiTitanis, late mundo subvecta silenti Rorifera gelidum tenuaverat aera biga.”1599 The baleful influence of “iracunda Diana” (Hor., De Art. Poet. 454) is an early belief, not yet extinct. cf.the term σελήνιασμός for epilepsy, and “lunaticus” for the “moonstruck” madman. Vide Cass., Quæst. Med.xxv. 1. Perowne on Ps. cxxi. 6 notes, “De Wette refers to Andersen’s Eastern Travels in proof that this opinionis commonly entertained. Delitzsch mentions having heard from Texas that the consequence of sleeping in theopen air, when the moon was shining, was mental aberration, dizziness, and even death.” “Dass auch der Mondin heller Nacht dem ohne gehörigen Schutz Schlafenden schaden könne ist allgemeine Meinung des Orients undder köhlen Nächte wegen leicht möglich. Vgl. Carne ‘Leben und Sitten im Morgenl.’” Ewald, Dichter des A.B. ii.266.1600 A fact, however explained. Plutarch (Sympos. Prob. iii. 10) discusses the question Διὰ τί τὰ κρέα σήπεταιμᾶλλον ὑπὸ τὴν σελήνην ἢ τὸν ἥλιον, and refers the decomposition to the moistening influence of the moon.“Air, moisture, and a certain degree of warmth, are necessary to the decay of animal bodies…where moisturecontinues present—even though warmth and air be in a great measure excluded—decay still slowly takes place.”J. F. W. Johnston, Chemistry of Common Life, ii. 273.1601 i.e.the Atlantic. cf. Ovid., Met. xi. 258, “Hesperium fretum.”320