Of Light and Colours.

The Velocity of the Rays of Light fur-zes that of all other Bodies we know ou

By

of lifeless inert Matter, rigid and inflexible, as itu 'd be absolutely cold and dark.

1^4' The Divine Wisdom,and Providence appears per-ofP® in nothing so remarkably as in the extreme Subtilty^ Particles of Light; without this Qualification itnot have pervaded the Pores of Bodies, and so weG r have had none of those which we call diaphanousk^Qnfparent Substances, and every thing but the Sur-Sj , a Body would have been concealed from the% 1 Mankind.

Again; the Velocity of a Body isL as the Quantity of Matter inversely ; and there- 1Q soe smaller ~

- the Body, the greater Velocity it is

ji 5 |. e Ptible of from the same Force ; whence it comes tothat Light is thus qualified to be transmitted thro’^ e nse Distance in a small and insensible Part of Time;s^ c h Thing was quitenecessary according to the pre-h'rame and State of Nature,tiq’ But lastly, it was absolutely necessary that the Par-°f Light should be so exceeding small, that whenwith its Velocity it should produce noHi u Porce, as it must otherwise have done, andby a therefore could not have been born by the tenderby a cate Texture of the several Parts of Vegetable'mal Bodies. To give an Example : The. Ve-ts ^ of a p ar ticle of Light is found to be at the RateIt ^97600000 Feet per Second ; suppose its'Matter tojj Ut one Millionth Part of a Grain, then its Force td

6a n Object would be as . ^ 97 ^ OQ 9 £ £ — 807,6 Feet

1QOOOOO J

^^nd for one Grain; or it would strike with theHt^r^tce that one grain Weight would do falling.Nih that Height, viz. through 448,8 Feet; which^ ij^Id find to be very great, were the Experiment to 16, << p. e ° n the sensible Goats of the Eye.

Xi)a hl . lllce the Weight of Bodies is proportional to the\ flt ' ‘

of Matter, it follows, that where the latter is'1 hed indefinitely, th.e former will be so too; there-fore)

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