Good evening. This is Montpelier Civic Forum and we're back and we're tonight We're speaking to Jim Murphy who is the chair of the Montpelier Rocksbury School District. Tell me do it right the board of school directors He is the head of the board of school directors Jim. How long you've been on the board eight years now and The vast sum that you make for sitting on the board 1500 a year and Your wife will allow you to do that. Well, I have another job No one don't quit your day job, right? Yeah, don't quit your day job. How long you've been chair? I've been chair since 2018 so six years now But it's a long six years. It has been a long six years and We're here to talk about the revised budget the budget that's coming up for a vote on April 30th, yep, and you can vote ahead of time Yes, you can vote early and you can go to City Hall and vote on April 30th Should you wish? Yeah, and you can also request a ballot from City Hall to be mailed to you and you can also show up at City Hall I I think pretty much any time now and vote. I don't know if John has the The ballots ready, but certainly in the next week or two You should be able to to show up early and it takes it's one question. So it'll take 30 seconds Now this is a revised budget. I want to open with the district itself the district itself is For this year, it's Roxbury Village School It is Union Elementary School. It's Main Street Middle School, and it's the high school. Yep, Montpellier High School and The two elementary schools together will have approximately 415 students Main Street Middle School has 378 and the high school has 375 yeah, we have 290 employees of which 161 of them are teachers and We offer a full curriculum Yep, including AP courses. Yes, and Basically 13% of our student body, which is holding constant is special needs Yeah, that all sounds right. I mean, I think those figures are from a website So now our challenge is to arrive at a budget that that everyone will agree on yes And that's what we're here to talk about today and what I want to do is I want Jim to give me just an overview. How much are we talking about? What is the total budget amount that you guys are asking for we're asking for about 30.5 million? Which was down from originally a quest that that was voted no of 32 million. So we've reduced that by about 1.5 million What does that mean to a house? It will be a tax increase in Montpellier of about 14 percent, which is down from 24 percent and I understand those are very high numbers And I explain why we'll get to that In Roxbury, I think it's a slightly under 4 percent Okay, before before people start to shut off the television and say this is totally unfair Would you explain how it's equal how 4% equals 14% I? it largely has to do with The CLA which is the common level of appraisal is very different in both towns, which is that's and and because Montpellier went through an appraisal there's this phenomenon that That I think has gotten the attention of some people in the state where there's there's basically a property tax bump After an appraisal happens you you know levels out and then the next year You get the common level appraisal seeks to Basically take what the appraise value is and make it as close to what you could get it if you actually sold your house Because Montpellier is very hot market and because we Realized the the leveling effects of the appraisal last year Montpellier got a bump of about kind of 13 percent baked in in terms of And across the board increase And there are more properties that sell in Montpellier than in Roxbury. So it's easier to set that new benchmark So then at some point in time Roxbury will go through the same experience and ill experience bump as well a bump maybe not as significant because you know I'm the The market in in Roxbury is not as hot as it is in Montpellier and never and probably never will be so basically Lost in the din of the last election was the amount of work that actually went into shaping that budget I mean it it kind of focused on two elements in one case Oh my god, it's 23 percent and on the other where do you stand on the Roxbury Village School? Yes, and how do you how do you how do you get that number down when? But how do you get to that number is equally interesting because it was not arrived at Lightly I mean every year the board goes through an extremely detailed process To try and get to that number that they feel is appropriate in order to educate first of all Does this budget contain any new programs? No this this budget is is a actual substantial cut can compare it's The first budget we put out had some cuts in it But was relatively kind of a level budget in terms of just moving the same program for this has This has positions eliminated and the closure of a school So it has it has cuts that are pretty significant, but there's nothing in addition hiding in the budget. Absolutely not No, I want to take you back to November and even before November Talk to us about act 127 because it plays a big role in this and I realized to a lot of people It's just another state act. What was act 127 so act 127 effectively Vermont has a very Byzantine education funding mechanism and it that came from the compromise yeah, I came from compromise and it came from a Decision bring them if my memory is correct back in the 90s that that essentially said that that Vermont had to come up with a way to ensure that there was a quality in school outcomes and So a quality in school outcome that wouldn't be different in the N. E. K. That yeah because you lived in a very property poor area your kids wouldn't suffer Another kids benefit because they're growing up in killington or stuff. Exactly. So, you know proud of that in the 80s and 90s If you were in a town that had a relatively, you know decent Property tax base and wealth base like like Stowe like South Burlington like Montpelier You know there was plenty from the board to draw on in terms of of local Taxes, but you know for property poor towns like the Northeast Kingdom and some other rural towns They had very little property tax to draw on and the schools were very poor So the outcomes the education outcomes were huge and the the Vermont Constitution as Read by the Supreme Court guarantees a quality in education So they forced upon the legislature the need to equalize that and to redistribute funding So we start to pool funds from the locals Over to the state and then back to the locals again. Exactly. So there's this there was this, you know education fund Set up and it's distributed equally based on What was previously called equalized pupils? Which is was a formula that looks it's not kind of the number of people in seats but it's it's those people with weights on them according to Essentially according to their education needs What is an education need? It's not Gabriel's bad at math. It's it's more fundamentals than that. It's yeah, you economic It's it's socio-economic factors. A big factor is Whether not English is a first language or a second language Special needs special needs Those type of factors and also like where they are in the the education. They go it's it's not the same Cost to do a first grader. It is is to do a junior in high school So so all those factors are weighted and it comes out with a number and that number Basically determines you get a set amount called the dollar yield that is Based on that per pupil Number and that's distributed to schools What was act one 20? I think we were in favor of act one 27. We were so what act one 27 did was it? There's a study that came out of UVM that Effectively said that the weights that that were being used were not We're not actually accounting for actual education need And that there was was inequity there and that the weights needed to be shifted And then it proposed a a mechanism to shift them. So the legislature adopted 127 to Effectively reflect that UVM study The effects of that I mean the positive effects were that It did a better job of allocating resources And that's why the board supported we do we have their community values equity the board values equity The result is a good one like though more money should go where the needs are mob pillow, however, and my brother Roxbury district was not a beneficiary of That shift at what point did we learn that? We knew We knew at the onset That we would not likely be a beneficiary However, we've we felt that I mean the board felt in supporting it That it was still the right thing to do from a statewide education perspective. I'm not sure Well, I know we didn't understand how act one 27 was really designed and I by what happened with legislature I don't think the legislature itself understood how act one 27 was originally designed But we picked up some better-weighted students in Roxbury Because the community is less affluent we actually didn't because Because of because there was a previous act called act 140 act 46 that that gave certain incentives for districts to merge and Because of the way our district basically Because because of that and also because of kind of the the ratio of of Roxbury to Montpelier we did not We did not get the role advantage of Roxbury students even though other places in the states that that had similar education Challenges to Roxbury did so in November. We're starting the budget. Did we know at that point? the kinds of Cuts or the diminishing of resources that act one 27 would would bring we learned we started learning in early November the The communication from the agency of the of education To school districts about what all this meant. We knew it was out there The communication was very slow in terms of what all this meant and then when it came it came Kind of in the middle of the fall and it came in very draconian fashion and That's when we learned that Cuts were going to be or the the impacts of the Ed fund from this We're going to be pretty substantial to our district and not just our district but statewide Now in December and December 6th. Yeah, you have to come to Jesus moment And you say to Libby we've got to look for cuts. You know, this is serious. We've got to explore our options Yeah, what brought that about? Well, you know an act one 27 the legislature went and fix it originally it had You know so the the education fund is is a pie And so it it moved the way the pie was distributed, you know from here to here from you know, where it previously was to You know districts that under the new formula had more needs The legislature tried to have it both ways. It so it created this this cap on impacts the local property taxes In the in the first iteration To you know blunt the effect of districts like Montpelier that we're going to Lose a lot of weighted students and thus a lot of of money from the state Basically saying for five years. We will kind of the state will use the education fund To not only shift money to these districts that that under the new weighted formula have higher needs, but also to backfill The money that a lot of districts are losing and what it did was it Did it started to tank the Ed fund very quickly? So the the per pupil per pupil dollar amount going to each district went from 15,000 in our last budget cycle to By the time the legislature fixed it. It was it was at about it was like under eight or or so thousand So it it almost halved The amount of money that was going to districts is because it spread the Ed fund so thin so in December in November or December You discover my goodness. This is real. Yeah Now at that point You're telling Libby look look for areas that can be cut Now yeah, and Libby is telling us that that this is serious. This is serious. Yes Could you talk about the reserve? Because at that point you're sitting on a fairly sizable reserve. How how do we build a reserve like that? What what's the size of the reserve in December? The approximate size, so how do we build it? I think the approximate size was about 1.5 million. I don't have the chart in front of me. Libby did a good job of walking through I think it was around 1.5 million or so. We have to keep approximately 2% Per policy in place so We either it was either 1.5 And we had you know 1.25 or so at our discretion or it was or we have 1.8 but we be committed What 1.5 from the track where was that at that point? Isn't that part of the reserve? That was yeah That was a big so it's bigger than 1.5 million. Yeah, I think it was maybe 1.8 or 1.9 right. Yeah So we're sitting how did we build that reserve is it just cashed it? We is it operating is it what what is so it's it's basically it's money that we budgeted for and didn't spend for whatever reason I think there were a Variety of reasons that that it was built up one I think during co vid There were a lot of expenses that just weren't incurred that were normally incurred that we budgeted for We also had a very good but very conservative budget manager for several years who If a position could theoretically cost us a hundred thousand he put a hundred thousand in he was not gonna say We've got a 75% chance is only gonna cost us 80,000 which some budget managers might do He's like look if this could cost us a hundred thousand let's put a hundred thousand in the budget so we're not caught with our pants down and If it doesn't cost a hundred thousand we're in a good position and if it costs a hundred thousand we're not scrambling for money so between I think co vid and conservative budgeting it was You know there wasn't any huge windfall. It was just a lot of you know this each. Yeah, this teacher Took a single plan instead of a family plan because we budgeted for a family plan because of theoretical So there's 30,000 and You know This you know this program ended up not needing to spend all of all of these funds because you know whatever happened So it was yeah, so chunks of money started coming back into the reserve So you're trying to avoid staff layoffs. Yeah, I assume Now at this point, are we talking about some teacher buyouts? My understanding is that that you know teacher buyouts have been been offered And it was it was definitely I think a tool that was looked at as a way to avoid. Yeah staff layoff So and we have we have natural Natural retirements and people you know otherwise leaving physicians now. What's going on the legislature at this point? I mean they're realizing that they've got a problem so the scrambling Yeah, so the legislators realized they got a problem when he when he first crafted the budget in December we crafted it With this cap in mind That is a cap being one more time explaining the cap. So so so so the original act 127 was that as long as you had purple people spending That did not rise more than 10% Your local taxes were capped at 5% pre CLA so it was 5% and then whatever the CLA boost. How do we get to 23? Oh, well what happened is we we had the 5% cap and then You know our CLA brought up originally. I think there was like 18 or 19 for Firm on Piliar What happened was the legislature realized that the cap was draining The Ed fund so in February It was February early March. They got rid of the cap So that's how we got from 19 to 23 Tuck there's one more out of your control. Yeah, talk about health insurance Yeah, and then health insurance well health insurance You know, I mean the the budget our previous budget was 28 point something You know which up to 32 so when you say it's a level budget that doesn't look like a level budget It's a little budget in terms of we kept all the services level We had two major cost increases one was At about a million dollars in benefits increases because our health care costs went up 16% Which was you know health care cost 10 that is a state plan that we're that is a state plan that we are Yes, we're matters of the locked into We also and this is consistent with what most of the school districts around us did And very well earned our teachers are fantastic We were on the second cycle of two kind of major salary Increases that were pretty large. That was I think another seven or eight hundred thousand. So so we had about two million baked in in Salary and benefit costs just to keep our retain our existing staff now if you're doing teacher buyouts then you've got younger teachers to buy in and Basically to purchase their services and you're bidding against other school districts So pretty much I assume that the teacher raised to some extent is defensive in order to allow us the flexibility to get teachers to bid Successfully against other districts. Yeah, no, we have to stay I mean even with those those increases because I know that you know It might sound like a lot of money some people we are still for central Vermont We are like in the middle of the pack in terms of future compensation so we are we are Competitive but by no means By no means the highest paying district even in central Vermont and then you know, we're also Competing which in and county which which pays more We're up to January and we've got the decision to keep the Roxbury Village School in the budget and Basically to use surplus money in order to try and drive it Down to twenty three percent. Well, we didn't Originally, I mean the original budget. We used some surplus money. I think we used about five or six hundred thousand in the original budget and Then we we phased out a few positions and Then we kind of did did a haircut on a bunch of things on you know, like the school each schools Just kind of general spending budget You know, I think we we kind of pared down some some maintenance and facilities So three hundred and seventy five thousand. Yeah worth of a haircut. Yeah, and then two hundred thousand of facilities and Thirty thousand to athletic equipment and eighteen thousand to technology. Yeah, and some of some of those were added on to the original budget book but we had You know, we had cuts We had cuts in the original budget. I think of about half a million or more Beyond what level spending would have been. Can we get into some of those personnel cuts? What did we what are we losing in this budget from what we have at this day in April? I don't want to get two into personal cuts because it kind of goes goes to position, but Yeah, I think library aid we lost those You know a literacy coach Some instructional assistance Yeah, you know some just general support staff so so those type of reductions. Did we lose any programs? We did not lose any programs So basically the budget that you're proposing right now is Smaller than the other budget by about a million and a half. Yeah, what is that million and a half cut? What what are we losing for a million and a half? What's what's the haircut? I mean the the biggest The the biggest reason for that was is the closure of the Roxbury Village School and sending rocks fending walls all rocks Sending the Roxbury elementary students to Union Elementary School and we'll be able to then pick up some of that in a reserve fund Well by doing that we were able to Not have to go deeper into the reserve funds to get to a lower tax rate. What is the reserve fund at right now? Approximately, I'm not asking for it. Are we still over a million dollars? I I would have to check that I think I think we're slightly below a million dollars for next year Which gives us I think some or maybe right around a million Which it gives us some room? Did we have to hit the reserve fund to work on Montpellier High School after the flooding? No, okay, all of those expenses were covered by insurance. Oh, okay, so that we we got very fortunate with We got very fortunate there So right now we're staring at a budget that You guys don't have a plan. This is plan B. Is there a plan C if this goes down? I I think you you you know we put out some budgets that brought the You know but proposals that brought us to more like 12 11 percent It starts to get it starts to get really painful I'm both for families and for education. That's what you're talking about cutting. I think more deeply into programs You're talking about cutting things like Bussing for UES, which I know would put a lot of strain on families and raise a lot of safety concerns You're talking about bringing our facilities maintenance down to You know just basically what's needed for safety Which may save something over the next year or two, but then you get delayed maintenance And then those things become much more expensive to fix later so So if yeah, if we do have to go to a third budget Then you're you're starting to really I think erode the quality of the schools The state allowed it your board to reopen the budget. Yeah other boards did we didn't why didn't well What was the thinking behind not reopening it the thinking was that we felt we had put out a very responsible and reasonable budget We had not done what some other districts did what some other districts did and is You know, they saw that five percent cap and this is actually one of the reasons that that the The cap backfired. I mean in terms of you're trying to spread it too thin But you know some districts looked at that five percent cap and said Oh, this is a great time since the state's paying for it to put Projects that we might otherwise bond Or pay for another revenue source into our general budget and as long as we're below that 10 percent per people cap We can just we can just rock it up to that 10 percent per people cap put in a bunch of pet projects We have that five percent cap and the state will pay for it. So when the cap went away I think districts that did that had to reopen had to reopen and say we have to take all those out because those are Gonna go to our taxpayers now Yeah, we Yeah Yeah, we we we felt that really other than Then moving the Roxbury students to Union elementary school. There was not a lot of wiggle room for us to reduce our budget and Without hitting a bone without hitting a bone and you know the the feeling on the board was That that move for the Roxbury community was Something that we wanted more time to consider Right now the legislature realizes that they've got a problem Yes What do you as a board? I mean Libby is in constant contact with the superintendent's association probably with our delegation What is the feeling on how that readjustment? That's inevitable. It will be something how it might impact our future budget not this one Next year's budget. I Mean, I think we're gonna be in a better place next year. I think the by getting rid of the cap the Legislature saved the Ed fund from free fall So I think next I think next year there's going to be three factors that will will make it I Don't think it's going to be a walk in the park budget But I think a much easier budget without the type of impacts we have one is I think the Ed fund will be will be stabilized To is we've already taken the the adjustment for the per-people count So that formulaic change has has occurred That's not baked in it's now baked in so So our per-people count will be the second year under the same formula so it will be relatively similar I mean we might lose some we might gain some but it's not going to be the dramatic shift we had where we we lost a Considerable number of weighted pupils under this new system and the third is is that that CLA Bump that we had from the reappraisal is also baked in is also baked in that's that's I mean There probably will be a little bit of an adjustment there But it's not going to be that that draconian 13% so those three factors are all in our favor And I think we'll make for a more stable budget next year stable meaning Possibly ten or under I would certainly hope we are a ten or under next year. I mean I I You know I I realized 14% is a lot for folks 24% was was obviously too high I I hope we can get to I want to make promises about numbers, but certainly below 10% I think would Would be a Big desire and and I would love it to be considerably below 10% You've been on the board long enough. We're not talking about weighted pupils now. We'll talk about pupils. Yes Do you see more pupils fewer pupils of roughly the same number of pupils? Well, my pillow had the advantage for the last several years of being one of the few towns in the state that Was gaining pupils and that appears to have stopped. We appear to be in The newer classes coming in are Starting to see declining numbers. So we have a nice bubble going through We do not seem to be having students at the number that that we've seen them over the last really five or so years So so yeah, our student population appears to be entering a period of decline again So the school board has its eyes set east to Savins pasture and beyond that to country club. I mean, this is where You know, this is this is you can't control that I can't control that But it's a conversation we need to have because you know the the school boards and I think the conversation about education Needs to be put in the context of other conversations. You know housing in Montpelier is is very tight And there's two types of housing we we we don't have we don't have We don't have starter homes that young families can afford and we also like honestly don't have You know the types of home that empty nesters and retired Pillar rights can can downsize into So we've got and we don't have enough apartments and we don't have enough apartments And we don't have a lot of multifamily units which and yeah, I'm not that family is there also often times great places for You know for empty nesters and and seniors to move into There are also great places for You know for young families to buy live there three four years get some equity move on We don't really have much of any of that and then we have You know then we have a income property tax adjustment that You know and and I think right now It's it's the humanitarian thing because we don't want to chase people from their homes Especially they don't have options to go but we have people who You know our are not making the income they made you know when they were younger Who weren't able to just stay in homes that really could accommodate five or six people and there's one or two of them in there So there's there's a lot of empty bedrooms in mob pillar and Not a lot of places for people to go. I want to talk about the physical side of the district for a second. Yeah Union elementary structurally sound, you know, there's a great school Main Street Middle School The Main Street Middle School has It keeps chugging along we've done a good job. I think of of of maintaining it. It's It's bursting at the seams and I don't think it's our flagship building The high school Hydraulically after the flood what is going on? What was the damage that was sustained in the flood? So most of the damage was to the basement we we got Incredibly lucky. What do we do with that basement norm? What were we doing with that basement last school year before the flood? It's it's largely where like the heating units are housed and there's some storage. There was no instructional going on There's no instruction. Yes. So how did we get lucky in the basement? Well, we got lucky because it stayed in the basement and I mean obviously it was a big cleanup job in the basement but insurance largely covered it and If it had gotten to the first floor, I think it would have been unlikely that we would have been able to start school On August whatever 20 whatever are we studying how to keep it from hitting the first floor in the future? We are we are and where is the progress on that? What's the time frame? Well, we're hoping for a report. Yeah, I think relatively soon. We've commissioned a Firm that does engineering that does architecture They've they've done some some community Processes, but but they're taking a look at kind of what what the options are for that site in that building So you'll have a whole series of public hearings again on those options. Well, we'll certainly put them out You know, you know mob pillar is is land constrained There's there are not a lot of places to put a Major high school that that are available And except for country clover Yeah, and well, we're not gonna do that. Yes. Yeah, and as you know that that That's a you know a different It's also a golf shot away from you 32 high school exactly some people's attention This is your chance to explain the track when it's the track going in what is the track and Basically, what are we getting for $400,000? So, you know the the board originally Set aside a good portion of the reserve to Update a track. We have a track from from from hell Yeah, we have a track from 1972 that looks like a track from 1972. I Understand this was controversial in the community. I think I think we have to have a little bit of soul-searching Because I think in most communities a track we have would be unacceptable and well, what are we getting? The new track look like and so we're not getting we're not getting a new track So we we uncover that fun What we're doing right now is we're making investments in the current track to essentially make it safe It's it's in very poor condition So how did the flood affect that and would the next flood? Affect your your version of the track. Yeah, the flood surprisingly the other field was actually Well designed to drain the tread that the flood did not do a ton of damage Well, that's good to the track, which is good. It's it's more of the fact that it's You know 52 years old and and just has not That maintenance or upkeep. Yeah, it's out of maintenance or upkeep. So So we are we have set aside up to $400,000 to do that maintenance and upkeep Will it be ready for the next school year? I'm not sure exactly what is gonna be ready. I mean, it's it's it's not ready now And I would have to talk to Andrew LaRosa who's the facilities director about when exactly I mean I think they are planning to do work on it, you know, this this construction season but it will be it will be the same track but With improvements to make it safe and functional So the bottom line on this budget, which you hope to pass is That it's a responsible budget. It's a very responsible that took a lot of deliberation the board worked Incredibly hard on this budget that required compromises That were extremely painful particularly for the people in Rocksbury. Yeah, no very very painful and I I want to you know stress the You know the impact on the Rocksbury community, I mean I have full faith that we will Transition those kids to UES in a way that that will be well, they'll be welcome. Well, they'll be welcome It'll be cab passion of kind. I think they will all get an excellent excellent education You know Rocksbury is a is a small tight-hit community. That's really trying to to rebuild and revitalize You know that schools is a centerpiece of that community and to Make a major decision about that school as quickly as we did was was both hard and Yeah, I don't think anybody wanted to do it this way At the same time the board recognizes that Getting that rate down to ten or below is really a priority for the board Yeah, if at all possible getting it down to ten or below We also heard a lot from the Montpelier community that Yeah From from a purely educational perspective That was the place where we could make the most significant cut that would have long-term impacts that would be a long-term savings and Get the The tax rate down to something more reasonable and I think I think the mox but Montpelier community Was We got strong signals that you know people voted for the budget for I think a variety of reasons but I think it was clear that there was a substantial portion of the Montpelier community that that really felt strongly that that That we could not afford to continue to Educate our elementary students at two elementary schools, but at the same time the 23% Was a hard pill for everyone to swallow. It was a hard pill for everyone to swallow and For good reason. It's a high number and then people are people are stressed and You know, we're we're not the only place prices are going up for folks, right, right, but the 14% Isn't the board doesn't see that as a new norm No, I really see that as a result of two things which I think are both short-term one is one is the CLA bump, but I think the other thing is is Is the adjustment of Act 27 in terms of our weighted peoples and and both of those are not going to be present next year Jim I I wish you good luck and again, I'll tell you people that get out and vote You know you might be for this you might be against it, but let's let's weigh in there are schools It's our tax rate and I would encourage you as I always do to go out and vote encourage others to vote And I thank Jim for appearing on my period of civic form, and I thank you for watching it


Up to bat comes Lars Knutbaugh for the Cardinals. What a beautiful name, played at USC football. Baseball did it all in high school. Tweeted that he's scared of the dark and probably thinks he will be for the rest of his life back in 2014. Looks at the bat, focuses his eyes, steps into the box, says don't do me wrong, blue. Let's have a good one. First pitch from Keller, strike. Umpire records it as such. Oh and one, outside. One and one is the count. That one spits on it low. The great ball exchange. Salvi says, I'll take that one. Brad, you take this one. That one goes over there. And as they ump, he grabs one from the left side, brings it to the right side. Then the ump checks the count and says, what's the count again? It's two and one, okay. Good, take note of it. Next pitch in the zone, strike three, you're out. He says, but ump, that's only two strikes. He says, you're right, son. My bad, dammit, dammit, dammit, embarrassing myself. Next pitch, strike three, wings him up again. Double-ring out Lars, eat it.  Now he's up for his next at bat in the game. First pitch, that's a ball out. No one argues, next pitch. Ooh, nice pitch, Brad. That's a strike, ump records it as such. We have a one and one count. That pitch, he's gonna call a strike three, you're out. Nope, strike two, strike two, strike two. And this guy says, hey, that is only two. And this fan says, that's strike number two.  Awfully embarrassing, oh, I gotta pick it up. That's in the dirt, good job by Lars. And that one is roped right back up the middle for a single and the pointer brothers are gonna come out as he says, thank you coach and good job over there and tap, tap, tap and good job there. Blue, now your best.


SECTION 64 OF A NEW PROPERTY IN THE AIR AND SEVERAL ETHER TRANSPARENT MEDIUMS NAMED INFLECTION. 2. Having therefore made it probable at least that the morning and evening redness may partly proceed from this inflection or refraction of the rays, we shall next show how the oval figure will be likewise easily deduced. Suppose we therefore EFGH in the sixth figure of the thirty-seventh scheme to represent the earth. A B C D the atmosphere, E I and E L two rays coming from the sun, the one from the upper, the other from the nether limb, these rays being by the atmosphere inflected appear to the eye at E, as if they had come from the points N and O, and because the ray L has a greater inclination upon the inequality of the atmosphere than I. Therefore must it suffer greater inflection and consequently to be further elevated above its true place than the ray I, which has a less inclination will be elevated above its true place. Once it will follow that the lower side appearing nearer the upper, than really it is, and the two lateral sides, vis, the right and left side, suffering no sensible alteration from the inflection, at least what it does suffer does rather increase the visible diameter than diminish it, as I shall show by and by. The figure of the luminous body must necessarily appear somewhat elliptical. This will be more plain if in the seventh figure of the thirty-seventh scheme we suppose A B to represent the sensible horizon, C D E F the body of the sun really below it, G H I K the same appearing above it elevated by the inflection of the atmosphere. Or if according to the best observation we make the visible diameter of the sun to be about three or four and thirty minutes, and the horizontal refraction according to Tycho be there about or somewhat more, the lower limb of the sun E will be elevated to I. But because by his account the point C will be elevated but twenty-nine minutes, as having not so great an inclination upon the inequality of the air, therefore I G which will be the apparent refracted perpendicular diameter of the sun will be less than C G, which is but twenty-nine minutes and consequently six or seven minutes shorter than the unreflacted apparent diameter. The parts D and F will be likewise elevated to H and K whose refraction by reason of its inclination will be bigger than that of the point C, though less than that of E. Therefore will the semi-diameter I L be shorter than L G, and consequently the underside of the appearing sun more flat than the upper. Now because the rays from the right and left sides of the sun, etc., have been observed by Rikiola and Grimaldus to appear more distant one from another than really they are, though by very many observations that I have made for that purpose with a very good telescope fitted with a divided ruler, I could never perceive any great alteration. Yet there being really some, it will not be amiss to show that this also proceeds from the refraction or inflection of the atmosphere. And this will be manifest if we consider the atmosphere as a transparent globe, or at least a transparent shell encompassing an opacious globe, which being more dense than the medium encompassing it, refracts or inflects all the entering parallel rays into a point or focus so that wheresoever the observer is placed within the atmosphere between the focus and the luminous body, the lateral rays must necessarily be more converged towards his eye by the refraction or inflection than they would have been without it, and therefore the horizontal diameter of the luminous body must necessarily be augmented. This might be more plainly manifest to the eye by the sixth figure. But because it would be somewhat tedious, and the thing being obvious enough to be imagined by anyone that attentively considers it, I shall rather omit it and proceed to show that the massive air near the surface of the earth consists or is made up of parcels, which do very much differ from one another in point of density and rarity, and consequently the rays of light that pass through them will be variously inflected, here one way, and there another, according as they pass so or so through those differing parts, and those parts being always in motion either upwards or downwards, or to the right or left, or in some way compounded of these, they do by this their motion inflect the rays, now this way, and presently that way. This irregular unequal and unconstant inflection of the rays of light is the reason why the limb of the sun, moon, Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, and Venus appear to wave, or dance, and why the body of the stars appear to tremulate or twinkle. Their bodies by this means being sometimes magnified and sometimes diminished, sometimes elevated, otherwise depressed, now thrown to the right hand and then to the left. And that there is such a property or unequal distribution of parts is manifest from the various degrees of heat and cold that are found in the air. From whence will follow a differing density and rarity both as to quantity and refraction, and likewise from the vapors that are interposed, which, by the way, I imagine as to refraction or inflection to do the same thing as if they were rarefied air, and that those vapors that ascend are both lighter and less dense than the ambient air which boils them up, and that those which descend are heavier and more dense. The first of these may be found true if you take a good thick piece of glass and heating it pretty hot in the fire, lay it upon such another piece of glass or hang it in the open air by a piece of wire, then looking upon some far distant object such as a steeple or tree, so as to raise from that object past directly over the glass before they enter your eye, you shall find such a tremulation and wavering of the remote object as will very much offend your eye. The like tremulous motion you may observe to be caused by the ascending streams of water in the like. Now from the first of these it is manifest that from the rarefaction of the parts of the air by heat, there is caused a differing refraction, and from the ascension of the more rarefied parts of the air which are thrust up by the colder, and therefore more condensed and heavy, is caused an undulation or wavering of the object, for I think that there are very few will grant that glass by as gentle a heat as may be endured by one's hand should send forth any of its parts and steams or vapors which does not seem to be much wasted by that violent fire of the green glass-house. But if yet it be doubted, let experiment be further made with that body that is accounted by chemists and others, the most ponderous and fixed in the world, for by heating of a piece of gold and proceeding in the same manner you may find the same effects. This trembling and shaking of the rays is more sensibly caused by an actual flame, or quick fire, or anything else heated glowing hot as by a candle, live coal, red hot iron or piece of silver, and the like. The same also appears very conspicuous if you look at an object betwixt which, and your eye, the rising smoke of some chimney is interposed, which brings into my mind what I had once the opportunity to observe, which was the sun rising to my eye just over a chimney that sent forth a copious steam of smoke. And taking a short telescope which I had then by me, I observed the body of the sun, though it was but just peeped above the horizon, to have its underside not only flatted and pressed inward, as it usually is when near the earth, but to appear more pertuberant downwards than if it had suffered no refraction at all. And besides all this the whole body of the sun appeared to tremble, or dance, and the edges are limbed to be very ragged or indented, undulating or waving much in the manner of a flag in the wind. As I have likewise often observed in a hot, sunshiny summer's day that looking on an object over a hot stone, or dry hot earth, I have found the object to be undulated or shaken much after the same manner. And if you look upon any remote object through a telescope, in a hot summer's day especially, you shall find it likewise to appear tremulous. And further if there are chance to blow any wind, or that the air between you and the object be an emotion or current whereby the parts of it, both rarified and condensed, are swiftly removed towards the right or left, if then you observe the horizontal ridge of a hill far distant through a very good telescope, you shall find it to wave much like the sea, and those waves will appear to pass the same way with the wind. From which in many other experiments it is clear that the lower region of the air, especially that part of it which lieth nearest to the earth, has for the most part its constituent parcels variously agitated, either by heat or winds, by the first of which some of them are made more rare, and so suffer a less refraction. Others are interwoven, either with ascending or descending vapours, the former of which, being more light, and so more rarified, have likewise a less refraction. The latter being more heavy and consequently more dense, have a greater. Now because that heat and cold are equally diffused every way and that the further it is spread the weaker it grows, hence it will follow that the most part of the under-region of the air will be made up of several kinds of lenses, some more of will have the properties of confects, others of concave glasses, which that I may the more intelligibly make out we will suppose in the eighth figure of the thirty-seven scheme that A represents an ascending vapour which, by reason of its being somewhat heterogenous to the ambient air, is thereby thrust into a kind of globular form, not anywhere terminated but gradually finished, that is it is most rarified in the middle about A, somewhat more condensed about B.B., more than that about C.C., yet further about D.D., almost of the same density with the ambient air about E.E. and lastly enclosed with the more dense air F.F., so that from A to F.F. there is a continual increase of density, the reason of which will be manifest if we consider the rising vapour to be much warmer than the ambient heavy air, for by the coldness of the ambient air the shell E.E. will be more refrigerated than D.D., and that than C.C., which will be yet more than B.B., and that more than A., so that from F to A. there is a continual increase of heat, and consequently of rarity. From whence it will necessarily follow that the rays of light will be inflected or refracted in it, in the same manner as they would be in a concave glass? For the rays G.K.I., G.K.I. will be inflected by G.K.H., G.K.H., which will easily follow from what I before explained concerning the inflection of the atmosphere. While the other side of descending vapour, or any part of the air included by an ascending vapour, will exhibit the same effects with a convex lens. For if we suppose in the former figure the quite contrary constitution to that last described, that is the ambient air F.F. being hotter than any part of that matter within any circle, therefore the coldest part must necessarily be A., as being farthest removed from the heat, all the intermediate spaces will be gradually discriminated by the continual mixture of heat and cold, so that it will be hotter at E.E. than D.D., in D.D. than C.C., in C.C. than B.B., and in B.B. than A., from which a light refraction and condensation will follow, and consequently a lesser or greater refraction, so that every included part will refract more than the including, by which means the rays G.K.I., G.K.I. coming from a star or some remote object, are so inflected that they will again concur and meet in the point M. By the interposition thereof of this descending vapour, the visible body of the star or other object is very much augmented as by the former it was diminished. From the quick consecutions of these two, one after the other between the object and your eye, caused by their motion upwards or downwards, proceeding from their levity or gravity or to the right or left, proceeding from the wind, a star may appear, now bigger, now less, than really it would otherwise without them. And this is that property of a star which is commonly called twinkling or scintillation. The reason why a star will now appear of one color, now of another, which for the most part happens when tis near the horizon, may very easily be deduced from its appearing now in the middle of the vapour, otherwise near the edge, for if you look against the body of a star with a telescope that has a pretty deep convex eyeglass, and so order it that the star may appear sometimes in one place and sometimes in another of it, you may perceive this or that particular color to be predominant in the apparent figure of the star, according as it is more or less remote from the middle of the lens. This I could hear further explain, but that it does more properly belong to another place. I shall therefore only add some few queries which the consideration of these particulars hinted and so finish this section. And the first I shall propound is whether there may not be made an artificial transparent body of an exact globular figure that shall so inflect or refract all the rays that coming from one point fall upon any hemisphere of it, that every one of them may meet on the opposite side and cross one another exactly in a point, and that it may do the like also with all the rays that coming from a lateral point fall upon any other hemisphere, for if so there were to be hope to perfection of diopteryx, and a trans migration into heaven even whilst we remain here upon earth in the flesh, and a descending or penetrating into the center and innermost recesses of the earth, and all earthly bodies. Nay, it would open not only a cranny but a large window, as I may so speak, into the shop of nature whereby we might be enabled to see both the tools and operators in the very manner of the operation itself of nature. This, could it be affected, would as far surpass all other kinds of perspectives as the vast extent of heaven does the small point of the earth, which distance it would immediately remove and unite them as twer into one, at least that there should appear no more distance between them than the length of the tube into the ends of which these glasses should be inserted. Now whether this may not be affected with parcels of glass of several densities I have sometimes proceeded so far as to doubt. Though in truth as to the general I have wholly disparate of it, for I have often observed in optical glasses a very great variety of the parts, which are commonly called veins. Nay, some of them round enough, for they are for the most part drawn out into firings, to constitute a type of lens. This I should further proceed to hope had any one been so inquisitive as to have found out the way of making any transparent body either more dense or more rare, for then it might be possible to compose a globule that should be more dense in the middle of it than in any other part, and to compose the whole bulk so as that there should be a continual gradual transition from one degree of density to another such as should be found requisite for the desired inflection of the transmigrating rays. But of this enough at present, because I may say more of it when I set down my own trials concerning the mealieration of diopteryx, where I shall enumerate with how many several substances I have made both microscopes and telescopes, and by what and how many ways. Let us as have leisure and opportunity farther consider it. The next query shall be whether by the same collection of a more dense body than the other, or at least of the denser part of the other, there might not be imagined a reason of the apparition of some new fixed stars, as those in the swan, Cassiope's char, Serpentarius, Pisces, Cetus, etc. Thirdly whether it be possible to define the height of the atmosphere from this inflection of the rays or from the quicksilver experiment of the rarefication or extension of the air. Fourthly, whether the disparity between the upper and under air be not sometimes so great as to make a reflecting superfaces. I have had several observations which seem to have proceeded from some such cause, but it would be too long to relate and examine them. An experiment also somewhat analogous to this I have made with salt water and fresh, which two liquors in most positions seemed the same and not to be separated by any determinate superfaces, which separating surface yet in some other positions did plainly appear. And if so whether the reason of the equal bounding or terminus of the under parts of the clouds may not proceed from this cause, whether secondly the reason of the apparition of many suns may not be found out by considering how the rays of the sun may be so reflected as to describe a pretty true image of the body as we find them from any regular superfaces. But there also this may not be found to cause the apparition of some of these paralli of counterfeit suns which appear colored by refracting the rays so as to make the body of the sun appear in quite another place than really it is. But of this more elsewhere. Five. Whether the phenomena of the clouds may not be made out by this diversity of density in the upper and under parts of the air, by supposing the air above them to be much lighter than they themselves are, and they themselves to be yet lighter than that which is subjacent to them, many of them seeming to be the same substance with the cobwebs that fly in the air after a fog. Now that such a constitution of the air and clouds of such there be may be sufficient to perform this effect may be confirmed by this experiment. Make as strong a solution of salt as you are able. Then filling a glass of some depth half full with it. Fill the other half with fresh water and poise a little glass bubble so that it may sink pretty quick in fresh water which take and put into the aforesaid glass and you shall find it to sink till it comes towards the middle where it will remain fixed without moving either upwards or downwards. And by a second experiment of poising such a bubble in water whose upper part is warmer and consequently lighter than the under which is colder and heavier, the manner of which follows in this next query which is six. Whether the rarefication and condensation of water be not made after the same manner as those effects are produced in the air by heat, for I once poised a sealed up glass bubble so exactly that never so small an addition would make it sink, and as small a detraction make it swim which suffering to rest in that vessel of water for some time I always found it about noon to be at the bottom of the water, at night and in the morning at the top. Imagining this to proceed from the rarefication of the water caused by the heat I made trial and found most true for I was able at any time either to depress or raise it by heat and cold. For I let the pipe stand for some time in cold water I could easily raise the bubble from the bottom whither I had a little afford to truited it by putting the same pipe into warm water. And this way I have been able for a very considerable time to keep a bubble so poised in the water as that it should remain in the middle in neither sink nor swim. Pregently heating the upper part of the pipe with a candle, coal or hot iron till I perceived the bubble began to descend, then forbearing I have observed it to descend to such or such a station, and there to remain suspended for some hours till the heat by degrees were quite vanished when it would again ascend to its former place. This I have also observed naturally performed by the heat of the air which being able to verify the upper parts of the water sooner than the lower, by reason of its immediate contact the heat of the air has sometimes so slowly increased that I have observed the bubble to be some hours in passing between the top and bottom. 7. Whether the appearance of the Pike of Tenerife and several other high mountains at so much greater a distance than seems to agree with their respective heights be not attributed to the curvature of the visual ray that is made by passing obliquely through so differingly dense a medium from the top to the eye very far distant in the horizon. For since we have already, I hope, made it very probable that there is such an inflection of the rays by the differing density of the parts of the air, and since I have found by several experiments made on places comparatively not very high, and have yet found the pressure sustained by those parts of the air at the top and bottom, and also their differing expansions very considerable. In so much that I have found the pressure of the atmosphere lighter at the top of St. Paul's steeple in London, which is about two hundred foot high, then at the bottom by a sixtieth or fiftieth part, and the expansion at the top greater than at the bottom by near about so much also, for the mercurial cylinder at the bottom was about thirty-nine inches and at the top half an inch lower. The air also included in the weather glass that at the bottom filled only one hundred fifty-five spaces, at the top filled one hundred fifty-eight, though the heat at the top and bottom was found exactly the same with a scaled thermometer. I think it very rational to suppose that the greatest curvature of the rays is made nearest the earth, and that the inflection of the rays above, three or four miles upwards, is very inconsiderable, and therefore that by this means such calculations of the height of mountains is made from the distance they are visible in the horizon, from the supposal that that ray is a straight line, that from the top of the mountain is, as to our a tangent to the horizon whence it is seen, which really is a curve, is very erroneous, whence I suppose precedes the reason of the exceedingly differing opinions and assertions of several authors about the height of several very high hills. 8. Whether this inflection of the air will not very much alter the supposed distances of the planets which seems to have a very great dependence upon the hypothetical refraction or inflection of the air, and that refraction upon the hypothetical height and density of the air. For sense as I hope I have here shown the air to be quite otherwise than has been hitherto supposed, by manifesting it to be both of a vast, at least an uncertain height, and of an unconstant and irregular density, it must necessarily follow that its inflection must be varied accordingly. And therefore we may hence learn upon what sure grounds all the astronomers hitherto have built, who have calculated the distance of the planets from their horizontal parallax, for sense the refraction and parallax are so nearly allied that the one cannot be known without the other, especially by any ways that have been yet attempted, how uncertain must the parallax be when the refraction is unknown, and how easy is it for astronomers to assign what distance they please to the planets and defend them when they have such a curious subterfuge as that of refraction, wherein a very little variation will allow them liberty enough to place the celestial bodies at what distance they please. If therefore we would come to any certainty in this point we must go other ways to work. And as I have here examined the height and refractive property of the air by other ways than are usual, so must we find the parallax of the planets by ways not yet practiced and to this end I cannot imagine any better way than the observations of them by two persons at very distant parts of the earth. That lie, as near as may be, under the same meridian or degree of longitude, but differing as much in latitude as there can be places conveniently found. These two persons at certain appointed time should as near as could be, both at the same time, observe the way of the moon, Mars, Venus, Jupiter and Saturn amongst the fixed stars with a good large telescope and making little econosmes, or pictures of the small fixed stars that appear to each of them to lie in or near the way of the center of the planet, and the exact measure of the apparent diameter from the comparing of such observations together, we might certainly know the true distance or parallax of the planet, and having any one true parallax of these planets we might very easily have the other by their apparent diameters, which the telescope likewise affords us very accurately, and hence their motions might be much better known and their theories more exactly regulated. And for this purpose I know not any one place more convenient for such an observation to be made in than in the island of St. Helena upon the coast of Africa, which lies about sixteen degrees to the southwards of the line, and is very near according to the latest geographical maps in the same meridian with London. For though they may not perhaps lie exactly in the same, yet their observations being ordered accordingly to what I shall anon show, it will not be difficult to find the true distance of the planet, but where they both under the same meridian it would be much better. And because observations may be much easier and more accurately made with good telescopes than with any other instruments, it will not, I suppose, seem impertinent to explain a little what ways I judge most fit inconvenient for that particular. Such, therefore, shall be the observators for this purpose should be furnished with the best telescopes that can be had, the longer the better and more exact will their observations be, though they are somewhat the more difficultly managed. These should be fitted with a reet, or divided scale placed at such a distance within the eyeglass that they may be distinctly seen, which should be the measures of minutes and seconds. By this instrument each observator should at certain prefix times observe the moon or other planet in or very near the meridian, and because it may be very difficult to find two convenient stations that will happen to be just under the same meridian, they shall each of them observe the way of the planet both for an hour before and an hour after it arrive at the meridian, and by a line or stroke amongst the small fixed stars they shall denote out the way that each of them observe the center of the planet to be moved in for those two hours. These observations each of them shall repeat for many days together that both it may happen, that both of them may sometimes make their observations together, and that from diverse experiments we may be the better assured of what certainty and exactness such kinds of observations are like to prove. And because many of the stars which may happen to come within the compass of such an iconism or map, may be such as are only visible through a good telescope whose positions perhaps have not been noted, nor their longitudes or latitudes anywhere remarked. Therefore each observator should endeavor to insert some fixed star whose longitude and latitude is known, or with this telescope he shall find the position of some notable telescopical star inserted in his map to some known fixed star whose place in the zodiac is well-defined. Having by this means found the true distance of the moon and having observed well the apparent diameter of it at the time with a good telescope, it is easy enough by one single observation of the apparent diameter of the moon with a good glass to determine her distances in any other part of her orbit or dragon. And consequently some few observations will tell us whether she be moved in an ellipsis, which by the way may also be found even now, though I think we are yet ignorant of her true distance, and next, which without such observations I think we shall not be sure of, we may know exactly the bigness of that ellipsis or circle, and her true velocity in each part and thereby be much the better enabled to find out the true cause of all her motions. And though even now also we may by such observations in one station as here at London observe the apparent diameter and motion of the moon in her dragon, and consequently be enabled to make a better guess at the species or kind of curve in which she is moved, that is whether it be spherical or elliptical or neither, and with what proportional velocity she is carried in that curve, yet till her true parallax be known we cannot determine either. Next, for the true distance of the sun, the best way will be by accurate observations made in both these aforementioned stations of some convenient eclipse of the sun, many of which may so happen as to be seen by both. For the penumbra of the moon may, if she be sixty semi-diameters distant from the earth, and the sun above seven thousand, extend to about seventy degrees on the earth, and consequently be seen by observers as far distant as London and St. Helena, which are not full sixty-nine degrees distant. And this would much more accurately than any way that has yet been used to determine the parallax and distance of the sun. For as for the horizontal parallax I have already shown it sufficiently uncertain, nor is the way of finding it by the eclipse of the moon any other than hypothetical, and that by the difference of the true and apparent quadrature of the moon is not less uncertain, witness their deductions from it who have made use of it, for Vindaline puts that difference to be but four minutes thirty seconds, whence he deduces a vast distance of the sun, as I have before shown. Ricciola makes it a full thirty minutes, but Rhinoldist and Kircher no less than three degrees, and no wonder for if we examine the theory we shall find it so complicated with uncertainties. First, from the irregular surface of the moon and from several parallaxes that unless the dichotomy happened in the non- egesimus of the ecliptic, and that in the meridian, etc., all which happen so very seldom, that it is almost impossible to make them otherwise than uncertainly. Besides we are not yet certain, but that there may be somewhat about the moon analogous to the air about the earth, which may cause a refraction of the light of the sun and consequently make a great difference in the apparent dichotomy of the moon. Their way indeed is very rational and ingenious, and such is as much to be preferred before the way by the horizontal parallax could all the uncertainties be removed and were the true distances of the moon known. But because we find by the experiments of Vindaline, Rhinoldist, etc., that observations of this kind are very uncertain also, it were to be wished that such kind of observations made at two very distant stations were promoted. And it is so much the more desirable because from what I have now shown of the nature of the air it is evident that the refraction may be very much greater than all the astronomers hitherto have imagined it, and consequently that the distance of the moon and other planets may be much less than what they have hitherto made it. For first this inflection, I have here propounded, will allow the shadow of the earth to be much shorter than it can be made by the other hypothesis of refraction, and consequently the moon will not suffer an eclipse unless it comes very much nearer the earth than the astronomers hitherto have supposed it. Secondly, there will not in this hypothesis be any other shadow of the earth such as Kepler supposes and calls the penumbra which is the shadow of the refracting atmosphere, for the bending of the rays being altogether caused by inflection as I have already shown, all that part which is ascribed by Kepler and others after him to the penumbra or dark part, which is without the umbra tera, does clear vanish, for in this hypothesis there is no refracting surface of the air and consequently there can be no shadows such as appear in the ninth figure of the thirty-seven scheme where let ABCD represent the earth and EFGH the atmosphere which according to Kepler supposition is like a sphere of water terminated with an exact surface EFGH. Let the lines MF, LB, ID, KH represent the rays of the sun, to as manifest that all the rays between LB and ID will be reflected by the surface of the earth, BAD, and consequently the conical space BOD would be dark and obscure. But say the followers of Kepler the rays between MF and LB and between ID and KH falling on the atmosphere are refracted both at their ingress and egress out of the atmosphere nearer towards the access of the spherical shadow CO and consequently enlighten a great part of that former dark cone and shorten and contract its top to end. And because of this reflection of these rays they say there is super-induced another shell of a dark cone FPH whose apex P is yet further distant from the earth. By this penumbra say the moon is eclipsed, for it always passes between the lines 1, 2, and 3, 4. To which I say that if the air be such, as I have newly shown it to be and consequently cause such an inflection of the rays that fall into it, those dark penumbra's FYZQ, HXVT, and ORPS will all vanish, for if we suppose the air indefinitely extended, and to be nowhere bounded with a determinant refracting surface as I have shown it incapable of having from the nature of it, it will follow that the moon will nowhere be totally obscured, but when it is below the apex N of the dark blunt cone of the earth's shadow. Now from the supposition that the sun is distant about 7000 diameters, the point N, according to calculation, being not above 25 terrestrial semi-diameters from the descender of the earth, it follows that when so ever the moon eclipsed is totally darkened without affording any kind of light, it must be within 25 semi-diameters of the earth and consequently much lower than any astronomers have hitherto put it. This will seem much more consonant to the rest of the secondary planets. For the highest of Jupiter's moons is between 20 and 30 Jovial semi-diameters distant from the center of Jupiter, and the moons of Saturn much about the same number of Saturnial semi-diameters from the center of that planet. But these are but conjectures also and must be determined by such kind of observations as I have newly mentioned. Nor will it be difficult by this hypothesis to sav all the appearance of eclipses of the moon, for in this hypothesis also there will be on each side of the shadow of the earth a penumbra, not caused by the refraction of the air as in the hypothesis of Kepler, but by the faint in-lighting of it by the sun. For if in the sixth figure we suppose ESQ and GSR to be the rays that terminate the shadow from either side of the earth, ESQ coming from the upper limb of the sun and GSR from the under, it will follow that the shadow of the earth within those rays, that is the cone GSE, will be totally dark. But the sun being not a point but a large area of light there will be a secondary dark cone of shadow EPG, which will be caused by the earth's hindering part of the rays of the sun from falling on the part's GPR, and EPQ, of which have shadow or penumbra that part will appear brightest which lies nearest the terminating rays GP and EP, and those darker that lie nearest to GS and ES. When therefore the moon appears quite dark in the middle of the eclipse, she must be below S, that is between S and F, when she appears lighter near the middle of the eclipse, she must pass somewhere between RQ and S, and when she is alike light through the whole eclipse, she must pass between RQ and P. End of Section 64. Recording by Philip Gould. Section 65 of Micrographia. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Larry Wilson. Recording by Robert Hook. Observation 59 of multitudes of small stars discoverable by the telescope. Having in the last observation premised some particulars observable in the medium through which we must look upon celestial objects, I shall here add one observation of the bodies themselves. And for the specimen I have made choice of the Pleiades or seven stars, commonly so called, though in our time and climate, there appear no more than six to the naked eye. And this I did the rather because the deservedly famous Galileo, having published a picture of this asterismy, was able, it seems, with his glass to discover no more than 36, whereas with a pretty good 12-foot telescope, by which I drew this iconism, I could very plainly discover 78. Placed in the order they are ranged in the figure and of as many differing magnitudes as the asterisks, wherewith they are marked to specify there be no less than 14 several magnitudes of those stars, which are comprised within the draught, the biggest whereof is not accounted greater than one of the third magnitude. And indeed that account is much too big if it be compared with other stars of the third magnitude, especially by the help of a telescope. For them by it may be perceived that its splendor to the naked eye may be somewhat augmented by the three little stars immediately above it, which are near adjoining it. The telescope also discovers a great variety, even in the bigness of those commonly reckoned of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth magnitude, so that should they be distinguished thereby, those six magnitudes would at least afford no less than thrice that number of magnitudes, plainly enough distinguishable by their magnitude and brightness, so that a good 12-foot glass would afford us no less than 25 several magnitudes. Nor are these all but a longer glass does yet further both more nicely distinguish the magnitudes of those already noted, and also discover several other smaller magnitudes, not discernible by the 12-foot glass. Thus have I been able with a good 36-foot glass to discover many more stars in the Pleiades than there are here delineated, and those of three or four distinct magnitudes less than any of those spots of the 14th magnitude. And by the twinkling of the diverse other places of this asterismy, when the sky was very clear, I am apt to think that with longer glasses, or such as would bear a bigger aperture, there might be discovered multitudes of other small stars, yet inconspicuous. And indeed for the discovery of small stars, the bigger the aperture be, the better adapted is the glass. For though perhaps it does make the several specs more radiant and glaring, yet by that means uniting more rays very near to one point, it does make many of those radiant points conspicuous, which by putting on a less aperture, may be found to vanish. And therefore both for the discovery of the fixed star, and for the finding of the satellites of Jupiter, before it be out of the day, or twilight, I always leave the object glass as clear without any aperture as I can, and have thereby been able to discover the satellites a long while before. I was able to discern them when the smaller apertures were put on, and at other times to see multitudes of other smaller stars, which a smaller aperture makes to disappear. In that notable asterism, also of the second sword of Orion, where the ingenious Monsieur Huygens von Surikem has discovered only three little stars in a cluster, I have found with a 36 foot glass without any aperture, the breadth of the glass being about some three inches and a half, discovered five, and the twinkliness of diverse others up and down in diverse parts of that small milky cloud. So that is not likely, but that the milieu of telescopes will afford as great a variety of new discoveries in the heavens as better microscopes would among small terrestrial bodies. And both would give us infinite cause more and more to admire the omnipotence of the creator. End of section 65. Section 66 of Micrographia. This is the LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, recording by Larry Wilson. Micrographia by Robert Hook. Observation 60 of the Moon. Having a pretty large corner of the plate for the seven stars, void for filling it up, I have added one small specimen of the appearance of the parts of the moon by describing a small spot of it, which though taken notice of, both by the excellent Hevellius and called Moons Olympus, though I think somewhat improperly, being rather a veil, and represented by figure 10 of the 38 Scheme and also by the learned Ritualis, who calls it Hipparchus, and describes it by the figure Y. Yet how far short both of them come to the truth may be somewhat perceived by the draft, which I have here added of it in figure Z, which I drew by a 30-foot glass in October 1664, just before the moon was half enlightened, but much better by the readers diligently observing it himself at a convenient time with a glass of that length and much better yet with one of the three-score foot long, for through these it appears a very spacious veil encompassed with a ridge of hills, not very high in comparison of many other in the moon, nor yet very steep. The veil itself, A. B. C. D., is much of the figure of a pair, and from several appearances of it seems to be some very fruitful place, that is to have its surface all covered over with some kinds of vegetable substances. For in all position of the light on it, it seems to give a much fainter reflection on the more barren tops of the encompassing hills, and those are much fainter than diverse other cragged, chalky or rocky mountains of the moon, so that I am not unappet to think that the veil may have vegetables analogous to our grass, shrubs, and trees, and most of these encompassing hills may be covered with so thin a vegetable coat as we may observe the hills with us to be, such as the short sheep pasture which covers the hills of Salisbury plains. Up and down in several parts of this place here described, as there are multitudes and other places all over the surface of the moon, may be perceived several kinds of pits which are shaped almost like a dish, some bigger, some less, some shallower, some deeper, that is they seem to be a hollow hemisphere encompassed with a round rising bank, as if the substance in the middle had been digged up and thrown on either side. These seem to me to have been the effects of some motions within the body of the moon, analogous to our earthquakes. By the eruption of which, as it has thrown up a brim, a ridge round about, higher than the ambient surface of the moon, so has it left a hole, or depression in the middle proportionably lower. Diverse places resembling some of these I have observed here in England on the tops of some hills which might have been caused by some earthquake in the younger days of the world. But that which does most incline me to this belief is first the generality and diversity of the magnitude of these pits all over the body of the moon. Next, the two experimental ways by which I have made a representation of them. The first was with a very soft and well tempered mixture of tobacco pipe, clay and water, into which if I let fall any heavy body as a bullet, it would throw up the mixture round the place which for a while would make a representation not unlike these of the moon. But considering the state and condition of the moon, there seems not any probability to imagine that it should proceed from any cause analogous to this. For it would be difficult to imagine whence those bodies should come. And next, how the substance of the moons should be so soft. But if a bubble be blown under the surface of it and suffered to rise and break, or if a bullet or other body sunk into it, be pulled out from it, these departing bodies leave an impression on the surface of the mixture exactly like these of the moon, save that those also quickly subside and vanish. But the second and most notable representation was that I observed in a pot of boiling alabaster, for there that potter being by the eruption of vapors reduced to a kind of fluid consistency. If whilst it boils, it be greatly removed besides the fire, the alabaster presently ceasing to boil, the whole surface, especially that where some of the last bubbles have risen, will appear all over covered with small pits, exactly shaped like these of the moon. And by holding a lighted candle in a large dark room in diverse places to this surface, you may exactly represent all the phenomena of these pits in the moon, according as they are more or less enlightened by the sun. And that there may have been in the moon some such motion as this, which may have made these pits, will seem the more probable if we suppose it like our earth, for the earthquakes here with us seem to proceed from some such cause as the boiling of the pot of alabaster. There seeming to be generated in the earth from some subterraneous fires or heat great quantities of vapors, that is of expanded aerial substances which not presently finding a passage through the ambient parts of the earth, do as they are increased by the supplying and generating principles, and thereby having not sufficient room to expand themselves, extremely condensed at last over power with their elastic properties, the resistance of the encompassing earth, and lifting it up or cleaving it, and so shattering the parts of the earth above it, do at length where they find the parts of the earth above them more loose, make their way upwards and carrying a great part of the earth before them, not only raise a small brim around the place out of which they break, but for the most part considerable high hills and mountains, and when they break from under the sea, diverse times mountainous islands. This seems confirmed by the Vulcans in several places of the earth, the mouths of which for the most part are encompassed with a hill of a considerable height, and the tops of those hills or mountains are usually shaped very much like these pits or dishes of the moon. In instances of these we have in the descriptions of Etna in Sicily, of Hecla in Iceland, of Tenerife in the Canaries, and of several Vulcans in New Spain, described by Gage, and more especially in the eruption of late years in one of the Canary Islands, in all of which there is not probably only a considerable high hill raised about the mouth of the Vulcan, but like the spots of the moon, the top of those hills are like a dish or basin, and indeed, if one attentively considers the nature of the thing, one may find sufficient reason to judge that it cannot be otherwise. For these eruptions, whether of fire or smoke, always raising great quantities of earth before them must necessarily by the fall of those parts on either side raise very considerable heaps. Now both from the figures of them and from several other circumstances, these pits in the moon seem to have been generated much after the same manner that the holes in alabaster and the Vulcans of the earth are made. For first, it is not improbable, but that the substance of the moon may be very much like that of our earth. That is, may consist of an earthy, sandy, or rocky substance in several of its superficial parts, which parts being agitated, undermined, or heaved up by eruptions of vapors may naturally be thrown into the same kind of figured holes as the small dust or powder of alabaster. Next, it is not improbable, but that there may be generated within the body of the moon diverse such kinds of internal fires and heats as may produce such exhalations. For since we can plainly enough discover with a telescope that there are multitudes of such kind of eruptions in the body of the sun itself, which is accounted the most noble ethereal body, certainly we need not be much scandalized at such kind of alterations or corruptions in the body of this lower and less considerable part of the universe, the moon, which is only secondary or attendant on the bigger and more considerable body of the earth. Thirdly, it is not unlikely, but that supposing such a sandy or molding substance to be there found, and supposing also a possibility of the generation of the internal elastical body, whether you will call it air or vapors, it is not unlikely, I say, but that there is in the moon a principle of gravitation such as in the earth. And to make this probable, I think we need no better argument than the roundness or globular figure of the body of the moon itself, which we may perceive very plainly by the telescope to be baiting the small inequality of the hills and veils in it, which we are all of them likewise shaped or leveled as it were to answer to the center of the moon's body, perfectly of a spherical figure. That is, all the parts of it are so ranged, baiting the comparatively small ruggedness of the hills and veils, that the outmost bounds of them are equally distant from the center of the moon. And consequently, it is exceedingly probable also that they are equidistant from the center of gravitation. And indeed the figure of the superficial parts of the moon are so exactly shaped according as they should be, supposing it had a gravitating principle as the earth has, that even the figure of those parts themselves is of sufficient efficiency to make the gravitation and the other two suppositions probable, so that the other suppositions may be rather proved by this considerable circumstance or observation. Then this supposed explication can by that, for he that shall attentively observe with an excellent telescope how all the circumstances, notable in the shape of the superficial parts are, as it were, exactly adapted to suit with such a principle. Will, if he well considers the usual method of nature in its other proceedings, find abundant argument to believe it to have really there also such a principle. For I could never observe among all the mountainous or prominent parts of the moon, whereof there is a huge variety, that any one part of it was placed in such a manner that if there should be a gravitating or attracting principle in the body of the moon, it would make that part to fall or be moved out of its visible posture. Next, the shape and position of the parts is such that they shall all seem put into those very shapes they are in by a gravitating power. For first, there are but a very few cliffs or very deep declivities in the ascent of these mountains. For besides those mountains, which are by Hevelius called the Apennine Mountains and some other which seem to border on the seas of the moon and those only upon one side, as is common also in those hills that are here on the earth, there are very few that seem to have very steep ascent, but for the most part they are made very round and much resemble the make of the hills and mountains also of the earth. This may be partly perceived by the hills encompassing this veil, which I have here described, and as on the earth also, the middle most of these hills seems the highest. So is it obvious also through a good telescope and those of the moon? The veils also in many are much shaped like those of the earth. And I am apt to think that could we look upon the earth from the moon with a good telescope, we might easily enough perceive its surface to be very much like that of the moon. Now whereas in this small draft, as there would be in multitudes if the whole moon were drawn after this manner, there are several little ebullitions or dishes even in the veils themselves and in the encompassing hills also. This will from this supposition, which I have I think upon very good reason taken, be exceedingly easily explicable, for as I have several times also observed in the surface of alabaster so ordered as I had before described, so many the later eruptions of vapors be even in the middle or on the edges of the former. And other succeeding these also in time may be in the middle or edges of these, et cetera, of which there are instances enough in diverse parts of the body of the moon and by a boiling pot of alabaster will be sufficiently exemplified. To conclude therefore, it being very probable that the moon has a principle of gravitation, it affords an excellent distinguishing instance in the search after the cause of gravitation or attraction, to hint that it does not depend upon the diurnal or a terminated motion of the earth as some have somewhat inconsideratively supposed and affirmed it to do. Where if the moon has an attractive principle, whereby it is not only shaped round but does firmly contain and hold all parts united, though many of them seem as loose as the sand on the earth and that the moon is not moved about its center, then certainly the termination cannot be the cause of the attraction of the earth and therefore some other principle must be thought of, that will agree with all the secondary as well as primary planets. But this I confess is but a probability and not a demonstration, which from any observation yet made, it seems hardly capable of though how successful future endeavors promoted by the ameliorating of glasses and observing particular circumstances may be in this or any other kind must be with patients expected. End of section 66. End of micrographia by Robert Hoof.


The driver of a pickup truck has hit a group of cyclists at the bicycle race in Sholou, Arizona on Saturday, seriously injuring six people before the driver fled and was shot by the police. The police had the driver of the Blackford Super Duty truck stroke the bicyclist during the bike-to-bluff race at about 7.25 a.m. local time. In a statement, Navajo County Emergency Management and Preparedness said officers tried to stop the driver which ultimately led to the suspect being shot about a mile and a half away. The driver who was further five years old was in critical but stable condition. Six people were taken to a hospital, four were in critical condition and two were in critical but stable condition. Two or three other victims walked into the hospital. You get notified about fresh news updates.