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Chap. 122. Of airy figures.
AS I said before, the solid bodies moving in the soft, & more porous bodies, make many figures therein, some as prin∣ted, some as painted, others as sculpture, as cut, or carved in wood, or stone, or cast in metal, or moulded in earth, some are as if a man, or the like creature should print them∣selves in snow, others as if they should make themselves in snow, as for example; as if a man should stand, and let the snow fall thick upon him until he were all covered over, there would be his figure in snow, or if he should lie down in snow, there would be his print; so it is in air, as we move from place to place, new figures are made, and the former figures moulder, or melt out, but according as the air is, so they last, or decay, for if the air be congealed with cold, thickned with grosse fogs or mist, the figures last the longer therein, although in a misshapen posture, like ruina∣ted buildings, or broken statues, or like defeated armies, here an arm, or a piece of an arm, or a hand, and there leggs, here a head, there a mangled body; but when the air is thin, and serene, the print dissolves assoon as the figure removes; and if the air were as solid as snow, we should see the figures as perfect in the one, as in the other; but the air being very thin, and porous, the sight of the eye runs thorow without stay, or stop, taking no notice, like water in a sieve, wherein nought can be contained, because there is no hold to keep the water in from running out.