Huygens offered an explanation of TIR within the same framework as his explanations of the laws of rectilinear propagation, reflection, ordinary refraction, and even the extraordinary refraction of " Iceland crystal " (calcite). That framework rested on two premises: first, every point crossed by a propagating wavefront becomes a source of secondary wavefronts ("Huygens' principle"); and second, given an initial wavefront, any subsequent position of the wavefront is the envelope (common tangent surface) of all the secondary wavefronts emitted from the initial position. All cases of reflection or refraction by a surface are then explained simply by considering the secondary waves emitted from that surface. In the case of refraction from a medium of slower propagation to a medium of faster propagation, there is a certain obliquity of incidence beyond which it is impossible for the secondary wavefronts to form a common tangent in the second medium; this is what we now call the critical angle. As the incident wavefront approaches this critical obliquity, the refracted wavefront becomes concentrated against the refracting surface, augmenting the secondary waves that produce the reflection back into the first medium.