Rainbows in Flame

There are rainbows sometimes seen around lamps and torches.

• The cause is in the eye.

It was while traveling at night in a ship.

I rested my head on one hand all evening. This hand closed my right eye while I looked at the sky with the other hand. A candle was then brought to my place.

When I opened both eyes, I saw 2 crowns around the flame, whose colors were as vivid as I have ever seen them in the rainbow.

AB is the largest, which was:

• red towards A
• blue towards B

CD was the smallest.

• It was also red towards C, but towards D it was white
• It extended to the flame.

I closed my right eye and these crowns disappeared.

They continued to appear when I opened it and closed the left one.

This meant that they only came from some disposition of my right eye while I had kept it closed.

Most of the rays of the flame went towards O where they assembled.

Some of them were diverted and extended throughout the space fO.

• There they painted the crown CD

Some went to in the space FG, where they painted the crown AB.

This could be caused by various things.

There could be one or two small wrinkles in any of the surfaces E, M, P.

• Due to the shape of the eye, these extend as a circle whose center is on the line E, O.

There could be straight lines that intersect on this line E, O

• These make us see large rays scattered around the torches.

There could be something opaque between E and P or even on the side somewhere, as long as it extends circularly.

The humors, or the skins of the eye, could have changed their temperament or their shape.

It is very common for those who have sore eyes to see such crowns. They do not appear the same to all.

Their outer part, like A and C, is usually red, the opposite of those seen around the stars.

This is because in the production of their colors, it is the crystalline humor PNM, which takes the place of the crystal prism mentioned earlier.

• The bottom of the eye FGf takes the place of the white linen that was behind.

If the crystalline humor has this power, why does it not let us see the color of all the objects in the same way?

If it is not that you consider that

The rays which come from each point of these objects go towards each point of the bottom of the eye.

• Some pass through its sides marked N
• The others pass by that which is marked S

These two have completely opposite actions and destroy each other in the production of colors.

The rays that go to FGf only pass through N.

This adheres to the nature of colors and confirms its truth.