178 CALOR ET FRIGUS. 



to spectacles) ; and the operation of them is, as I re- 

 member, first to place them between the sun and the 

 body to be fired, and then to draw them upward tow- 

 ards the sun, which it is true maketh the angle of the 

 cone sharper. But then I take it if the glass had been 

 first placed at the same distance to which it is after 

 drawn, it would not have had that force. And yet 

 that had been all one to the sharpness of the angle. Qu. 

 So in that the sun's beams are hotter perpendicu- 

 larly than obliquely, it may be imputed to the union 

 of the beams, which in case of perpendicularity re- 

 flect into the very same lines with the direct ; and 

 the further from perpendicularity the more obtuse the 

 angle, and the greater distance between the direct 

 beam and the reflected beam. 



The sun-beams raise vapours out of the earth, and 

 when they withdraw they fall back in dews. 



The sun-beams do many times scatter the mists 

 which are in the mornings. 



The sun-beams cause the divers returns of the herbs, 

 plants, and fruits of the earth ; for we see in lemon- 

 trees and the like, that there is coming on at once fruit 

 ripe, fruit unripe, and blossoms ; which may shew that 

 the plant worketh to put forth continually, were it not 

 for the variations of the accesses and recesses of the 

 sun which call forth and put back. 



The excessive heat of the sun doth wither and de- 

 stroy vegetables, as well as the cold doth nip and blast 

 them. 



The heat or beams of the sun doth take away 

 the smell of flowers, specially such as are of a milder 

 odour. 



