The Practical Astronomer Comprising illustrations of light and colours--practical descriptions of all kinds of telescopes--the use of the equatorial-transit--circular, and other astronomical instruments, a particular account of the Earl of Rosse's large telescopes, and other topics connected with astronomy

CHAPTER I.

Chapter 2136 wordsPublic domain

GENERAL PROPERTIES OF LIGHT.

Interesting nature of this study--Different hypotheses which have been formed respecting the nature of light--It radiates in straight lines--Moves with amazing velocity--Flows in all directions from luminous bodies--Duration of its impressions on the eye--Supposed to have a certain degree of force or momentum--Experiments in relation to this point--Its intensity diminished in proportion to the square of the distance--Its reflection from opake bodies renders objects visible--Intensity of reflected light--Subject to the law of attraction--Forms a constituent part of certain bodies--_Solar phosphori_, and the phenomena they exhibit--Produces certain effects on planets and flowers, exemplified in a variety of instances--Supposed to have an influence on the _propagation of sound_

_page_ 8-37

Reflections on the nature of light, and the multifarious effects it produces throughout the universe--A representation of the Divinity--Wisdom and Goodness of God displayed in its formation

_page_ 37-40.