And again if
the Wind increase into a Storm, the Water may appear White, especially near
the Shore and the Ship, namely because the Rude Agitation Breaks it into
Fome or Froth. So much do Whiteness and Blackness depend upon the
Disposition of the Superficial parts of a Body to Reflect the Beams of
Light Inward or Outward. But that as White Bodies reflect the most Light of
any, so there Superficial Particles are, in the Sense newly Deliver'd, of a
Specular Nature, I shall now further endeavour to shew both by the making
of Specular bodies White, and the making of a White body Specular.
10. In the Fifth place then, I will inform You, that (not to repeat what
_Gassendus_ observes concerning Water) I have for Curiosity sake Distill'd
Quicksilver in a Cucurbit, fitted with a Capacious Glass-head, and observ'd
that when the Operation was perform'd by the Degrees of Fire requisite for
my purpose, there would stick to the Inside of the Alembick a multitude of
Little round drops of _Mercury_. And as you know that _Mercury_ is a
Specular Body, so each of these Little drops was a small round
Looking-glass, and a Multitude of them lying Thick and Near one another,
they did both in my Judgment, and that of those I Invited to see it, make
the Glass they were fastened to, appear manifestly a White Body.
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