CHAPTER II 
BROKEN AND SHADED LIGHT 
Aut the lights that come from the sky and 
reach the earth, whether from sun, moon, or 
stars, are broken lights in the sense that they 
are somewhat shattered by passing through 
atmosphere. None of them reaches us in its 
purity ; yet, comparatively speaking, we say 
that sunlight is direct light, moonlight is re- 
flected light, and cloud light is broken light. A 
cloud between the sun and the earth is merely 
the interposition of a visible atmosphere dense 
with particles of moisture, but it has a very 
decided effect in subduing the intensity of light 
and darkening the earth. The more vapor- 
laden the cloud and the thicker through its 
mass, the darker it will appear and the feebler 
will be the light filtered through it. If it is a 
large cloud it will appear, perhaps, unusually 
dark to us, for the reason that we can see only 
its shadowed base. On its upper part or top 
it is, of course, shining white in the sunlight, 
like the cumulus of a summer day ; for a cloud 
25 
light. 
