Parchment. Afterwards it must be rubb'd with a little Oil or white of an Egg, to fill up its Scratches; whereby it will become very transparent and polite. But for several Experiments, it is not necessary to polish it. If a piece of this crystalline Stone be laid upon a Book, every Letter of the Book seen through it will appear double, by means of a double Refraction. And if any beam of Light falls either perpendicularly, or in any oblique Angle upon any Surface of this Crystal, it becomes divided into two beams by means of the same double Refraction. Which beams are of the same Colour with the incident beam of Light, and seem equal to one another in the quantity of their Light, or very nearly equal. One of these Refractions is perform'd by the usual Rule of Opticks, the Sine of Incidence out of Air into this Crystal being to the Sine of Refraction, as five to three. The other Refraction, which may be called the unusual Refraction, is perform'd by the following Rule. [Illustration: FIG. 4.] Let ADBC represent the refracting Surface of the Crystal, C the biggest solid Angle at that Surface, GEHF the opposite Surface, and CK a perpendicular on that Surface. This perpendicular makes with the edge of the Crystal CF, an Angle of 19 Degr. 3'. Join KF, and in it take KL, so that the Angle KCL be 6 Degr. 40'. and the Angle LCF 12 Degr. 23'. And if ST represent any beam of Light incident at T in any Angle upon the refracting Surface ADBC, let TV be the refracted beam determin'd by the given Portion of the Sines 5 to 3, according to the usual Rule of Opticks. Draw VX parallel and equal to KL. Draw it the same way from V in which L lieth from K; and joining TX, this line TX shall be the other refracted beam carried from T to X, by the unusual Refraction. If therefore the incident beam ST be perpendicular to the refracting Surface, the two beams TV and TX, into which it shall become divided, shall be parallel to the lines CK and CL; one of those beams going through the Crystal perpendicularly, as it ought to do by the usual Laws of Opticks, and the other TX by an unusual Refraction diverging from the perpendicular, and making with it an Angle VTX of about 6-2/3 Degrees, as is found by Experience. And hence, the Plane VTX, and such like Planes which are parallel to the Plane CFK, may be called the Planes of perpendicular Refraction. And the Coast towards which the lines KL and VX are drawn, may be call'd the Coast of unusual Refraction. In like manner Crystal of the Rock has a double Refraction: But the difference of the two Refractions is not so great and manifest as in Island Crystal.