94 ESSAYS anp OBSERVATIONS 
nefs will be moft bent ina direction con- 
trary to that of refradlion, by the reflea- 
ing power, and will therefore only return 
to the direction of fwifter rays bya great- 
er degree of refraction? 
Quer. XXIII. Sir Ifaac Newton juft- 
ly argues, that light muft be reflected at 
a diftancée from bodies; becaufe the moft 
polifhed furface, being extremely rough 
and uneven in refpect of the particles of 
light, would difperfe them indifferently 
in all directions, if they rebounded from 
it by ftriking: But, will not the like dif- 
ficulty ftill remain, viz) How light can 
be reflected or refra@ted regularly by the 
beft-polithed furface, if the power of the 
body proceeds from an attraction or re- 
pulfion belonging to each phyfical point? 
{t might be perhaps fuppofed, that the re- 
pulfive power produces reflexion at a di- 
itance fo great, in refpect of the inequali- 
ties that are left in polifhed bodies, that 
the direction of force, refulting from their 
joint action, may be very nearly perpendi- 
cular to the general furface of the body; 
and this might tend to account for the 
regular 
