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Literature · Science

Opticks 42Prop. Xix

18

Literature · Science

Opticks 42

Prop. Xix

NewtonEnglish
_If any sort of Rays falling on the polite Surface of any pellucid Medium be reflected back, the Fits of easy Reflexion, which they have at the point of Reflexion, shall still continue to return; and the Returns shall be at distances from the point of Reflexion in the arithmetical progression of the Numbers 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, &c. and between these Fits the Rays shall be in Fits of easy Transmission._
For since the Fits of easy Reflexion and easy Transmission are of a returning nature, there is no reason why these Fits, which continued till the Ray arrived at the reflecting Medium, and there inclined the Ray to Reflexion, should there cease. And if the Ray at the point of Reflexion was in a Fit of easy Reflexion, the progression of the distances of these Fits from that point must begin from 0, and so be of the Numbers 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, &c. And therefore the progression of the distances of the intermediate Fits of easy Transmission, reckon'd from the same point, must be in the progression of the odd Numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, &c. contrary to what happens when the Fits are propagated from points of Refraction.
Opticks 41Opticks 43

Newton — Opticks (Isaac Newton) (1704). Public Domain. Isaac Newton, Opticks; public domain in the US; text from Project Gutenberg #33504. Source