in ARISTOTLE >S EXPLANATION 19 



prevents discrimination of them. By and by 

 instead of individual drops there is seen a single 

 blurred mass that contains them all. 



Aristotle agrees with this opinion. His words 

 are : Beams of light are reflected by sight y\ 

 from every smooth surface. Now, nothing is 8 

 smoother than water and air. Therefore, our 

 sight is reflected back on us from thick air. 

 Indeed, where the vision is dull and feeble, 

 the slightest stroke of air checks it. Some 

 people suffer from an affection which causes 

 them to think that they are meeting their own 

 image, and they see everywhere the reflection of 

 themselves. And why ? Because the power of 

 their eyes is so weak that it cannot overcome the 

 resistance of even the nearest layer of the 

 atmosphere. What dense air effects in ordinary 

 cases, any kind of air is sufficient to effect in 

 the cases referred to by Aristotle. For whatever 

 the nature of the air, it is strong enough to defeat 

 weak sight. Now, much more is our vision 



reflected upon us by water because it is denser 

 and cannot be pierced ; it absolutely stops the 

 rays from our eyes, and turns them back to the 

 source whence they proceeded. Well then, 9 



when there are numerous raindrops, they are 

 just so many mirrors. ' But on account of their 

 smallness they express the sun's colour without 

 distinct shape. By and by when the same colour 

 is reflected in the countless drops that fall without 

 intermission, it begins to take on the appearance 

 not of numerous images with intervals between, but 

 of a single, long, uninterrupted image. 



But how, you may object, can you tell me that there 

 are many thousands of images there, where I can 



