R E F 



R E F 



\ritli fuch vehemence, that tlic mod vigilant attention of the 

 civil magiftrate, the highcft flrains of pontifical authority, 

 and all the rigour of the incjuifitorial jurildiftion, were re- 

 quifite to check or extinguilh it. The defeftion of fo many 

 opulent and powerful kingdoms from the papal fee was a 

 fatal blow to its grandeur and power, and produced a very 

 confiderable diminution of its revenues. It likcwife obliged 

 the Roman pontifls to adopt a different fyilim of conduft 

 towards the nations which continued to recognize their jurif- 

 diftion, and to govern them by new maxims, and with a 

 milder fpirit. They became afraid of venturing upon any 

 fuch exertion of their authority as might alarm or exaf- 

 perate their fubjefls, and excite them to a new revolt. 

 Hence it happens, that the popes, from the era of the re- 

 formation, have ruled ratiier by addrefs and management 

 than by authority. They have been obliged not only to 

 accommodate themfelves to the notions of their adherents, 

 but to pay lome regard to the prejudices of their enemies. 

 In procefs of time, and before the convulfions which have 

 lately agitated Europe, they iunk almoit to a level with the 

 other petty princes of Italy ; and they hardly retain any fha- 

 dow of the temporal power which they anciently pofleffed. 

 Neverthelefs, whilft tlie reformation has been fatal to the 

 pewer of the popes, it has contributed to improve the 

 church of Rome both in fcience and in morals. Many motives 

 have arifen out of the reformation, and the exiftence of two 

 rival churches, which have ferved to engage the Catholic 

 clergy to apply themfelves to the ftudy of ufeful fcience, and 

 to pay a flri6\ attention to the manners of their clergy. In 

 thofe countries where the members of the two churches 

 have mingled freely with each other, or have carried on any 

 confiderable intercourfe, either commercial or literary, an 

 extraordinary alteration in the ideas, as well as in the morals, 

 of the Popifh ecclefiaftics is manifeit. The beneficial in- 

 fluence of the reformation has not only been felt by the 

 clergy, and the inferior members of the Roman Catholic 

 church ; but it has extended to the fee of Rome, and to the 

 fovereign pontiffs themfelves, whofe charafter, at a later 

 period, has been very different from that of feveral of their 

 predeceffors. Many of them have been confpicuous for the 

 virtues becoming their high itation ; and by their humanity, 

 their love of literature, and their moderation, have made 

 fome atonement to mankind for the crimes of thofe who in 

 former times occupied their places. Thus the reformation 

 has eminently contributed to increafe purity of manners, to 

 diffufe fcience, and to infpire humanity. With the progrefs 

 of the reformation we may alfo conneft a variety of other 

 important benefits, both to individuals and to fociety ; and 

 as they pertain to the inveftigation of truth and the improve- 

 ment of fcience, to the promotion of liberty both civil and 

 religious, to the diffufion of knowledge and virtue, and to 

 the advancement of the beil intereils of mankind. But the 

 details of the advantages refulting from the reformation to 

 nations and private perfons, to religion in general, and ge- 

 nuine Chrillianity in particular, would far exceed the limits 

 to which we are confined. 



See, on the fubjeft of this article, Robertfon's Hift. of 

 Charles V. vol. ii. p. 113, &c. vol. iii. p. 44, &c. Mo- 

 fheim's Eccl. Hiit. Eng. ed. Svo. vol. iii. Burnet's Hift. 

 of the Reformation, paffim. For a comprehenfive, and, 

 upon the whole, a juft llietch of the predifpofing caufes, and 

 beneficial confequences of the reformation, we refer the rea- 

 der to a work which obtained the prize propofed by the 

 National Inilitute of France, 15th of Germinal, in the year 

 X. •viz. " What has been the influence of the reformation by 

 Luther on the political fituation of the different ftates of 

 Europe, and on the progrefs of knowledge .'" The work 



13 entitled " An Effay on the Spirit and Influence of the Re- 

 formation by Luther," by C. Villers. We have two Eng- 

 lifli tranflations, one by B. Lambert, and the other by 

 James Mill, Svo. 1805. 



Reformation, Higit of, Jus reformat'ionh, is a right 

 which the princes of Germany claim to reform the church in 

 their refpeftive territories ; as being inveftcd with the fpiri- 

 tual as well as the temporal power. 



The^';« reformatmiis is annexed to the fovereignty ; by this 

 they have the power of confcience, the difpofition of eccle- 

 fiaftical revenues, &c. as they enjoyed the fame at the treaty 

 of Mmltcr in 1624. 



Reformation of Images, in Optics. See Anamorpho- 

 sis. 



REFORMED Calendar and Church. See the fubftan- 

 tives. 



Reformed OJicer. See Reformado. 



REFRACTED Angle, in Optics, the angle contained 

 between the refrafted ray and the perpendicular. 



Refracted Dials, are fuch as fhew the hour by means 

 of fome refrafting tranfparent fluid. See Dials, Refraaed. 



Refracted Ray, or ray of refraaion. See Ray and 

 Refraction. 



Refracted Vifwn. See Vision. 



REFRACTING Telescope. See Telescope. 



REFRACTION, Refractio, in ^f<r/^a«!'c.f, the devia- 

 tion of a moving body from its diredl courfe, by reafon of 

 the different denfity of the medium it moves in ; or a flexion 

 and change of determination, occafioned by a body's falling 

 obhquely out of one medium into another of a different 

 denfity. 



Thus a ball A {Plate XXXVI. Mechanics, fg. 14.) 

 moving in the air in the line A B, and falling obliquely on 

 the furface of the water C D, does not proceed ftraight 

 to E, but deviates, or is inflefted, to F. Again, if the 

 ball, moving in water in the fame line A B, Ihould fall 

 obliquely on a furface of air C D ; it will not proceed ftraight 

 to E, nor yet defleft to F, but to G. Now the defledion in 

 each cafe is called the refraaion : and the two cafes are dif- 

 tinguifhed by means of the perpendicular M I ; that B G 

 being called refraaion towards the perpendicular, or to the 

 axis of refraaion ; and the other B F, refraaion from the per- 

 pendicular, or from the axis of refraaion. 



Thefe refraftions are fuppofed to arife hence, that the ball . 

 arriving at B, in the firil cafe finds more refiitance or oppo- 

 fition on the one fide O, i. e. from the fide of the water, than 

 it did from the fide P, or that of the air ; and in the latter 

 more refiftance from the fide F, which is now the fide of 

 the water, than the fide O, which is that of the air. 



The great law of refraAion, then, which holds in all bo- 

 dies, and all mediums, is that a body, pafiing obliquely out 

 of a medium which refills it more, is refrafted towards the 

 perpendicular ; and in paffing out of a medium which op- 

 pofes it lefs into another which oppofes it more, it is refrafted 

 from the perpendicular. 



Hence the rays of light falling out of air into water are 

 refrafted towards the perpendicular ; whereas a ball thrown 

 into the water is refrafted from it ; becaufe water, which re- 

 fills the motion of light lefs than air, refills that of the ball 

 more ; or, to fpeak more juftly, becaufe water, by its greater 

 attradlion, accelerates the motion of the rays of light more 

 than air does ; for that this is the true cauie of refrattion, 

 at leafl in light, fhall be fliewn under Refraction of 

 light. 



To have a body refrafted, it is neceffary that it fliould fall 

 obliquely on the fecond medium. In perpendicular inci- 

 dence there is no refraaion. 



Voffius 



