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PROOF THAT THE NEARER YOU ARE TO THE SOURCE OF THE SOLAR RAYS,
THE
LARGER WILL THE REFLECTION OF THE SUN FROM THE SEA APPEAR TO
YOU.
[
Footnote: Lines 4 and fol. Compare Vol. I, Nos. 130, 131.] If it is
from the centre that the sun employs its radiance to intensify the
power of its whole mass, it is evident that the farther its rays
extend, the more widely they will be divided; and this being so,
you, whose eye is near the water that mirrors the sun, see but a
small portion of the rays of the sun strike the surface of the
water, and reflecting the form of the sun. But if you were near to
the sun--as would be the case when the sun is on the meridian and
the sea to the westward--you would see the sun, mirrored in the sea,
of a very great size; because, as you are nearer to the sun, your
eye taking in the rays nearer to the point of radiation takes more
of them in, and a great splendour is the result. And in this way it
can be proved that the moon must have seas which reflect the sun,
and that the parts which do not shine are land.
8
88.
Take the measure of the sun at the solstice in mid-June.
8
89.
WHY THE SUN APPEARS LARGER WHEN SETTING THAN AT NOON, WHEN IT IS
26
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