1421. There are ten situations in the moon's orbit when she must particularly exert her influence on the atmosphere; and when, consequently, changes of the weather most readily take place. These are,- 1st, The new, and 2d, The full moon, when she exerts her influence in conjunction with, or in opposition to, the sun. 3d and 4th, The quadratures, or those aspects of the moon when she is 90ﾦ distant from the sun; or when she is in the middle point of her orbit, between the points of conjunction and opposition, namely, in the first and third quarters. 5th, The perigee, and 6th, The apogee, or those points of the moon's orbit, in which she is at the least and greatest distance from the earth. 7th and 8th, The two passages of the moon over the equator, one of which Toaldo calls the moon's ascending, and the other the moon's descending, equinox; or the two lunistices, as De la Lande terms them. 9th, The boreal lunistice, when the moon approaches as near as she can in each lunation (or period between one new moon and another) to our zenith (that point in the horizon which is directly over our heads). 10th, The austral lunistice, when she is at the greatest distance from our zenith; for the action of the moon varies greatly, according to her obliquity. With these ten points Toaldo compared a table of forty-eight years' observations; the result is, that the probabilities, that the weather will change at a certain period of the moon are in the following proportions:- New moon, 6 to 1. First quarter, 5 to 2. Full moon, 5 to 2. Last quarter, 5 to 4. Perigee, 7 to 1. Apogee, 4 to 1. Ascending equinox, 13 to 4. Northern lunistice, 11 to 4. Descending equinox, 11 to 4. Southern lunistice, 3 to 1.
