So treacle hath this effect, and many such like, which are hot and dry
when taken after connexion.
Q. Why do steel glasses shine so clearly? A. Because they are lined in
the inside with white lead, whose nature is shining, and being put to
glass, which is lucid and transparent, doth shine much more; and casts
its beams through its passages, and without the body of the glass; and
by that means the glass is very shining and clear.
Q. Why do we see ourselves in glasses and clear water? A. Because the
quality of the sight, passing into the bright bodies by reflection, doth
return again on the beam of the eyes, as the image of him who looketh on
it.
Q. What is the reason that if you cast a stone in standing water which
is near the surface of the earth, it causes many circles, and not if the
water be deep in the earth? A. Because the stone, with the vehemence of
the cast, doth agitate the water in every part of it, until it come to
the bottom; and if there be a very great vehemence in the throw, the
circle is still greater, the stone going down to the bottom causing many
circles. For, first of all, it doth divide the outermost and superficial
parts of the water in many parts, and so, always going down to the
bottom, again dividing the water, it maketh another circle, and this is
done successively until the stone resteth; and because the vehemence of
the stone is slackened, still as it goes down, of necessity the last
circle is less than the first, because by that and also by its force the
water is divided.
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