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like a perforation in a board; on looking into it it appears dark
and the objects seen through the bright air and a dark one become
confused in this darkness.
WHY A MAN SEEN AT A CERTAIN DISTANCE IS NOT RECOGNISABLE.
The perspective of diminution shows us that the farther away an
object is the smaller it looks. If you look at a man at a distance
from you of an arrow's flight, and hold the eye of a small needle
close to your own eye, you can see through it several men whose
images are transmitted to the eye and will all be comprised within
the size of the needle's eye; hence, if the man who is at the
distance of an arrow's flight can send his whole image to your eye,
occupying only a small space in the needle's eye how can you
[expect] in so small a figure to distinguish or see the nose or
mouth or any detail of his person? and, not seeing these you cannot
recognise the man, since these features, which he does not show, are
what give men different aspects.
5
68.
THE REASON WHY SMALL FIGURES SHOULD NOT BE MADE FINISHED.
I say that the reason that objects appear diminished in size is
because they are remote from the eye; this being the case it is
evident that there must be a great extent of atmosphere between the
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