| The
diagram crossing the middle of the page shows the Moon's surface as
having substance and weight. Next to the shaded Moon, at bottom,
Leonardo expresses the view that beyond the bright crescent, which is
lit by the Sun, the reflection of light from the Earth's seas gives the
rest of the Moon a pale light. |
"Some have
believed that the moon has some light of its own, but this opinion is
false, for they have based it upon that glimmer visible in the middle
between the horns of the new moon...this brightness at such a time
being derived from our ocean and the other inland seas -- for they are
at that time illuminated by the sun, which is then on the point of
setting, in such a way that the sea then performs the same office for
the dark side of the moon as the moon when at the full does for us when
the sun is set...." |
