Indian Science and Technology in the Eighteenth Century: Some Contemporary European Accounts c11.10

c11.10

Let us suppose a treatise, on reflection and refraction and the places of figures formed by either, to be written purely scientifically, without any mention of telescopes, or any application of the uses of the theorems. That by some accident, (possibly from the revolutions of time) all other treatises on the subject, or books in which telescopes, and their uses are described, and all telescopes had perished. If such treatise were then to be found, in some very remote period, the finder would not easily discover the use of the theorems, and still less the instruments formed on the principles, therein delivered. Alhazan delivered principles. Artists might possess the application, perhaps not even committed to writing, but learned, as trades are now learnt, by working and practice.