/sci/ - Science & Math

>In the last place came the superstitious category of the ignorant. These people are not content to lack knowledge: they claim to know things that are actually false, and they “knew” many such things about the moon. Some of them regarded it as a smooth mirror by means of which people could see each other from various points on the earth and communicate their thoughts. Others maintained that out of a thousand new moons that had been observed, nine hundred fifty had brought about notable changes such as cataclysms, revolutions, earthquakes, floods, etc. They thus believed that the moon had a mysterious influence on human destiny and considered it to be the “true counterbalance” of existence. They thought that each lunar inhabitant was attached to each inhabitant of the earth by a sympathetic bond. Following Dr. Mead they maintained that the vital system was completely dependent on the moon. They stubbornly insisted that boys were born mainly during the new moon and girls during the last quarter, etc., etc. But finally they had to give up these gross errors and return to the truth. Although the moon, stripped of all its influence, was diminished in the minds of those who paid court to all powers, and although some people turned their backs on it, the vast majority decided in favor of it. As for the Americans, their only ambition was now to take possession of that new continent in space, and plant the star-spangled banner of the United States on its highest peak.