z Dr. Sturges's Account of two Rainbows. 
setting. It was a perfect calm, and the sea was as smooth 
as glass. 
If I might venture to offer a solution of this appearance, it 
would be as follows. I consider the bow A B as the true one, 
produced by the sun itself; and the other, AC, as produced 
by the reflection of the sun from the sea, which, in its per- 
fectly smooth state, acted as a speculum. The direction of 
the sea, between the Isle of Wight and the land, was to the 
north-west, in a line with the sun, as it was then situated. 
The image reflected from the water, having its rays issuing 
from a point lower than the real sun, and in a line coming 
from beneath the horizon, would consequently form a bow 
higher than the true one, AB. And the shores, by which 
that narrow part of the sea is bounded, would, before the sun's 
actual setting, intercept its rays from the surface of the water, 
and cause the bow AC, which I suppose to be produced by 
the reflection, to disappear before the other. 
