TREATISE ON OPTICS
TABLE OF CONTENTS PART I INTRODUCTION AND COMMENTARY CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION CHAPTER II NICOLE ORESME’S LIFE AND WORKS A SERVICE TO UNIVERSITY B SERVICE TO KING C SERVICE TO CHURCH CHAPTER III THE WRITING OF DE VISIONE STELLARUM: AUTHOR, DATE, TITLES, AND IN?UENCE A AUTHORSHIP B DATE C PLACE OF COMPOSITION D VARIANT TITLES OF THE DE VISIONE STELLARUM AND THE PROBLEM OF TRACING IN?UENCE E SOURCES AND CITATIONS CHAPTER IV OVERVIEW AND COMMENTARY ON ORESME’S DE VISIONE STELLARUM A GENERAL OVERVIEW OF THE DE VISIONE STELLARUM B INTRODUCTION TO BOOK I: WHETHER DECEPTION OCCURS IN OBSERVING THE CELESTIAL STARS WHEN THEIR RAYS ARE UNDISTORTED 1 LUNAR PARALLAX (BK I, CONCLUSION 1) 2 THE PARALLAX OF COMETS (BK I, CONCLUSION 2) 3 FINDING THE ALTITUDE OF A CIRCUMPOLAR COMET (BK I, CONCLUSION 3) C INTRODUCTION TO BOOK II: WHETHER DECEPTION OCCURS IN OBSERVING THE CELESTIAL STARS DUE TO REFRACTION 1 A PROOF OF THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION USING THE OPTICS OF REFRACTION: ANY STAR NOT OVER THE ZENITH IS SEEN ELSEWHERE THAN IT TRULY IS (BOOK II, CONCLUSIONS 1–7) 2 A NUMBER OF HIGHLY ORIGINAL CONCEPTS BY ORESME TABLE OF CONTENTS A LIGHT TRAVELS ALONG A CURVE THROUGH A MEDIUM OF UNIFORMLY VARYING DENSITY (BOOK II, 1ST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION, 3RD RESPONSE) B INNOVATIONS IN OPTICS B1 LIGHT IS BENT ALONG A CURVED PATH IN A SINGLE MEDIUM OF UNIFORMLY VARYING DENSITY B2 REFRACTION DOES NOT REQUIRE A SINGLE, SPECI?C REFRACTING SURFACE C MATHEMATICS C1 RECTI?CATION OF AN ARC, USING AN IN?NITE SERIES OF LINE SEGMENTS C2 POSSIBLE CON?GURATION OF QUALITIES APPLIED TO A PHYSICAL SYSTEM D ASTRONOMY D1 ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION OCCURS ALONG A CURVE 3 IS THERE A “SPEED” OF LIGHT? ATMOSPHERIC REFRACTION APPLIED TO THE QUESTION (BOOK II, 1ST ARGUMENT AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION, 3RD RESPONSE) 4 SIX COROLLARIES THAT MAY BE DISCOVERED EXPERIMENTALLY (BK II, COROLLARIES 1–6) 5 SIXTEEN COROLLARIES THAT ARE LOGICAL CONCLUSIONS OF THE ABOVE (BK II, COROLLARIES I–XVI) CHAPTER V MANUSCRIPTS SIGLA, DESCRIPTIONS, ETC CHAPTER VI EDITORIAL PROCEDURES A RELATIONSHIP OF THE EXTANT MANUSCRIPTS B CRITICAL APPARATUS CHAPTER VII CITATION LIST OF AUTHORS QUOTED OR ALLUDED TO IN ORESME’S DE VISIONE STELLARUM TABLE OF CONTENTS PART II DE VISIONE STELLARUM: TEXT, TRANSLATION, AND CRITICAL APPARATUS I LATIN TEXT WITH ENGLISH TRANSLATION ON FACING PAGES A BOOK I WHETHER DECEPTION OCCURS IN OBSERVING THE CELESTIAL STARS WHEN THEIR RAYS ARE UNDISTORTED B BOOK II 1 SECTION 1: PROOF OF THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION: ANY STAR NOT OVER THE ZENITH IS SEEN ELSEWHERE THAN IT TRULY IS DUE TO REFRACTION 2 SECTION 2: ARGUMENTS AGAINST THE PRINCIPAL CONCLUSION, RESPONSES, AND THEIR COROLLARIES II NOTES