Blood & the Moon

In English folklore, the flow of a man's blood was supposed to be governed, like the ocean tides, by the phases of the moon. Modern medicine, of course, only chuckles at such claptrap. But now a Florida eye, ear, nose and throat specialist has gathered scientific evidence suggesting that there may be something to the old belief after all.

Tallahassee's Dr. Edson J. Andrews noticed that sometimes all his patients seemed to make good recoveries, but at other times many had hemorrhages and had to go back to the operating room for emergency treatment. Both types of cases were bunched. His nurse suggested that the moon might be responsible. "Nonsense," said the doctor. But she persisted: she had ringed the dates of the emergencies on a calendar, and they were clustered around full moon.

Dr. Andrews decided on a bigger and more scientific test. He kept records on all tonsillectomy cases (more than 1,000) for three years. Sure enough, 82% of bleeding crises occurred between the moon's first and third quarters. Actually, says the doctor, writing in the Journal of the Florida Medical Association, the disproportion was even greater because fewer patients were admitted around full moon. "Perhaps," he suggests, tongue slightly in cheek, "laymen know more about this than we do and are reluctant to enter the hospital at this time." To make doubly sure of his findings, Dr. Andrews got a colleague to keep the same type of records--with the same results.

It sounds like sorcery, Dr. Andrews concedes. But if his findings are confirmed, he has a solution: "Operate on dark nights only, saving the moonlit nights for romance."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.