15 JULY 1899, Page 15

MOONLIGHT SUPERSTITIONS.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—Evidence has been collected to show that in the West Highlands of Scotland big storms are constantly coincident with certain lunar phases. Also, it is the common experience of the fishermen up here that the moonlight has deleterious effects on herrings fresh from the net. The light of the moon is apparently only the reflected light of the sun, so that it is difficult to scientifically explain how the light, even of the full moon, can be different in effect to sunlight. The only other known effect of the moon upon this earth is gravitation. Nevertheless, these "moonlight superstitions" are strongly believed here, in the Highlands of Scotland, and if they are merely superstitions, there is something extremely uncanny about the mass of coincidences that support them.—I am, My 10th. Canon of Inverness Cathedral.