The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 01 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
Whether a body falling upon the superficies of another body and being
reflected from it, do make equal angles at that superficies, it belongs
not to this place to dispute, being a knowledge which depends upon the
natural causes of reflection; of which hitherto nothing has been said,
but shall be spoken of hereafter.
In this place, therefore, let it be supposed that the angle of incidence
is equal to the angle of reflection; that our present search may be
applied, not to the finding out of the causes, but some consequences of
the same.
I call an _angle of incidence_, that which is made between a strait line
and another line, strait or crooked, upon which it falls, and which I
call the _line reflecting_; and an _angle of reflection_ equal to it,
that which is made at the same point between the strait line which is
reflected and the line reflecting.
[Sidenote: If two strait lines falling upon another strait line be
parallel, the lines reflected from them shall also be
parallel.]
1. If two strait lines, which fall upon another strait line, be
parallel, their reflected lines shall be also parallel.
Let the two strait lines A B and C D (in fig. 1), which fall upon the
strait line E F, at the points B and D, be parallel; and let the lines
reflected from them be B G and D H. I say, B G and D H are also
parallel.
For the angles A B E and C D E are equal by reason of the parallelism of
A B and C D; and the angles G B F and H D F are equal to them by
supposition; for the lines B G and D H are reflected from the lines A B
and C D. Wherefore B G and D H are parallel.
[Sidenote: If two strait lines drawn from one point fall upon another
strait line, the lines reflected from them, if they be drawn
out the other way, will meet in an angle equal to the angle
made by the lines of incidence.]
2. If two strait lines drawn from the same point fall upon another
strait line, the lines reflected from them, if they be drawn out the
other way, will meet in an angle equal to the angle of the incident
lines.
From the point A (in fig. 2) let the two strait lines A B and A D be
drawn; and let them fall upon the strait line E K at the points B and D;
and let the lines B I and D G be reflected from them. I say, I B and G D
do converge, and that if they be produced on the other side of the line
E K, they shall meet, as in F; and that the angle B F D shall be equal
to the angle B A D.
For the angle of reflection I B K is equal to the angle of incidence A B
E; and to the angle I B K its vertical angle E B F is equal; and
therefore the angle A B E is equal to the angle E B F. Again, the angle
A D E is equal to the angle of reflection G D K, that is, to its
vertical angle E D F; and therefore the two angles A B D and A D B of
the triangle A B D are one by one equal to the two angles F B D and F D
B of the triangle F B D; wherefore also the third angle B A D is equal
to the third angle B F D; which was to be proved.