Page:Micrographia - or some physiological descriptions of minute bodies made by magnifying glasses with observations and inquiries thereupon.djvu/348

Rh which and your eye, the rising smoak of some Chimney is interpos'd; which brings into my mind what I had once the opportunity to observe, which was, the Sun rising to my eye just over a Chimney that sent forth a copious steam of smoak; and taking a short Telescope, which I had then by me, I observ'd the body of the Sun, though it was but just peep'd above the Horizon, to have its underside, not onely flatted, and press'd inward, as it usually is when neer the Earth; but to appear more protuberant downwards then if it had suffered no refraction at all; and besides all this, the whole body of the Sun appear'd to tremble or dance, and the edges or limb to be very ragged or indented, undulating or waving, much in the manner of a flag in the Wind.

This I have likewise often observ'd in a hot Sunshiny Summer's day, that looking on an Object over a hot stone, or dry hot earth, I have found the Object to be undulated or shaken, much after the same manner. And if you look upon any remote Object through a Telescope (in a hot Summer's day especially) you shall find it likewise to appear tremulous. And further, if there chance to blow any wind, or that the air between you and the Object be in a motion or current, whereby the parts of it, both rarify'd and condens'd, are swiftly remov'd towards the right or left, if then you observe the Horizontal ridge of a Hill far distant, through a very good Telescope, you shall find it to wave much like the Sea, and those waves will appear to pass the same way with the wind.

From which, and many other Experiments, 'tis cleer that the lower Region of the Air, especially that part of it which lieth neerest to the Earth, has, for the most part, its constituent parcels variously agitated, either by heat or winds, by the first of which, some of them are made more rare, and so suffer a less refraction; others are interwoven, either with ascending or descending vapours; the former of which being more light, and so more rarify'd, have likewise a less refraction; the latter being more heavie, and consequently more dense, have a greater.

Now, because that heat and cold are equally diffus'd every way; and that the further it is spread, the weaker it grows; hence it will follow, that the most part of the under Region of the Air will be made up of several kinds of lentes, some whereof will have the properties of Convex, others of Concave glasses, which, that I may the more intelligibly make out, we will suppose in the eighth Figure of the 37. Scheme, that A represents an ascending vapour, which, by reason of its being somewhat Heterogeneous to the ambient Air, is thereby thrust into a kind of Globular form, not any where terminated, but gradually finished, that is, it is most rarify'd in the middle about A. somewhat more condens'd about B B, more then that about C C; yet further, about D D, almost of the same density with the ambient Air about E E; and lastly, inclosed with the more dense Air F F, so that from A, to F F, there is a continual increase of density. The reason of which will be manifest, if we consider the rising vapour to be much warmer then the ambient heavie Air; for by the coldness of the ambient Air, the shell E E will be more refrigerated then D D, and that then C C, which will be yet more then B B, and that Rh