The English works of Thomas Hobbes of Malmesbury, Volume 01 (of 11)
Thomas Hobbes · en
And this is all I shall say concerning Sidereal Philosophy. And, though
the causes I have here supposed be not the true causes of these
phenomena, yet I have demonstrated that they are sufficient to produce
them, according to what I at first propounded.
[Illustration:
_Vol. 1. Lat. & Eng._
C. XXVI.
_Fig. 1-5_
]
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CHAPTER XXVII.
OF LIGHT, HEAT, AND OF COLOURS.
1. Of the immense magnitude of some bodies, and the unspeakable
littleness of others.—2. Of the cause of the light of the sun.—3.
How light heateth.—4. The generation of fire from the sun.—5. The
generation of fire from collision.—6. The cause of light in
glow-worms, rotten wood, and the Bolognan stone.—7. The cause of
light in the concussion of sea water.—8. The cause of flame, sparks,
and colliquation.—9. The cause why wet hay sometimes burns of its
own accord; also the cause of lightning.—10. The cause of the force
of gunpowder; and what is to be ascribed to the coals, what to the
brimstone, and what to the nitre.—11. How heat is caused by
attrition.—12. The distinction of light into first, second, &c.—13.
The causes of the colours we see in looking through a prisma of
glass, namely, of red, yellow, blue, and violet colour.—14. Why the
moon and the stars appear redder in the horizon than in the midst of
the heaven.—15. The cause of whiteness.—16. The cause of blackness.
[Sidenote: Of the immense magnitude of some bodies, and the unspeakable
littleness of others.]