And, if it has no proper place of its own, like the earth, in the midst of its elements, why does it not fall to the centre of our elements? [Footnote 26: The problem here propounded by Leonardo was not satisfactorily answered till Newton in 1682 formulated the law of universal attraction and gravitation. Compare No. 902, lines 5-15.]
And, if the moon is not in the centre of its own elements and yet does not fall, it must then be lighter than any other element.
And, if the moon is lighter than the other elements why is it opaque and not transparent?
When objects of various sizes, being placed at various distances, look of equal size, there must be the same relative proportion in the distances as in the magnitudes of the objects.
[Footnote: In the diagram Leonardo wrote sole at the place marked A.]
893.
OF THE MOON AND WHETHER IT IS POLISHED AND SPHERICAL.
The image of the sun in the moon is powerfully luminous, and is only on a small portion of its surface. And the proof may be seen by taking a ball of burnished gold and placing it in the dark with a light at some distance from it; and then, although it will illuminate about half of the ball, the eye will perceive its reflection only in a small part of its surface, and all the rest of the surface reflects the darkness which surrounds it; so that it is only in that spot that the image of the light is seen, and all the rest remains invisible, the eye being at a distance from the ball. The same thing would happen on the surface of the moon if it were polished, lustrous and opaque, like all bodies with a reflecting surface.
Show how, if you were standing on the moon or on a star, our earth would seem to reflect the sun as the moon does.
And show that the image of the sun in the sea cannot appear one and undivided, as it appears in a perfectly plane mirror.