The second kind of perspective is aerial, as it depends on the atmosphere; since we observe that objects not only diminish in their size, but in their distinctness, in proportion to the body of air betwixt the eye and the objects: those nearest are strongly represented, while other parts, as they recede, become less distinct, till at last the outline of a distant hill seems melting into the air itself. Such are the laws of aerial perspective on all objects, but not on all alike; since it is the peculiar property of light, and the reflection of light, unmixed by colour, to suffer much less by comparison than any other object. It is for this reason that we are so much deceived in the distance of perfectly white objects: the light reflected from a white-washed house, makes it appear out of its place; snow, at many miles distance, appears to be in the next field; indeed, so totally are we unable to judge of light, that a meteor within our atmosphere is sometimes mistaken for a lantern; at others, for a falling star.
