On the Halo seen around all Bodies. 25 



tion will cause the beam of light to strike the mass of ridges 

 vertically. 



16. Therefore, if the object have a plane surface, the vertical 

 lines within the halo will occupy the whole extent of vertical 

 surface : I speak now of a square of glass, or any other object 

 with a plane surface and standing in an erect position ; the 

 horizontal lines will occupy the whole of the horizontal surface 

 and thus cross each other at right angles at every corner. 



17. Consequently, if \he plane surface of any object lies hori- 

 zontally and the rays of light fall on it vertically, both the hori- 

 zontal and vertical lines will be illuminated and the center of the 

 plane will be the focus of illumination, the diameter of which 

 will be greater than if the surface were spherical. Bnt though 

 the space of luminous contact will be of larger diameter than if 

 the rays fell on a curve or sphere, yet the concentration will be 

 less dense, and of course less powerful. 



18. On a globular surface the action of the halo is the same, 

 only that, from the sphericity of the globe, the lines can never 

 cross at right angles. 



19. Taking into consideration all the peculiarities and anoma- 

 lies which these halos exhibit, it must lead to the conclusion, that 

 rays of light which issue from a polished opake or transparent 

 surface, are not immediately reflected from that surface, hut from 

 the halo itself. It was the opinion of many excellent philoso- 

 phers that light was not reflected from the surface of a body, but 

 that it " acted at a distance," there being several phenomena in- 

 cident to light which could not be accounted for on any other 

 hypothesis. They never detected the agency of this nebula or 

 halo^ nor will the men of science at the present day be the first 

 to investigate the proofs of the existence of so powerful an agent. 



20. I observed that the lines of the halo intersect each other ; 

 the interstices between their intersections are foci whence re- 

 flected rays issue. Rays of light diverge from these interstitial 

 foci in all directions, so that let us stand in what position we may, 

 with regard to the object on which the halo rests, a pencil of rays 

 always converges to the axis of our own eye. 



21. This halo, therefore, is the medium through which light 

 acts, both near and at a distance. 



22. Besides being the true reflecting medium, it has the prop- 

 erty of acting on another halo in a specific manner, either when 

 near or at a distance. 



Vol. XXXVIII, No. 1.— Oct.-Dec. 1839. 4 



