"Whoever has considered what a number of properties and effects of light are exactly similar to the properties and effects of bodies of a sensible bulk, will find it difficult to conceive that light is any thing else but very small and distinct particles of matter: which being incessantly thrown out from shining substances, and every way dispersed by reflection from all others, do impress upon our organs of seeing that peculiar motion, which is requisite to excite in our minds the sensation of light. But for the present purpose it is sufficient to observe that light consists of parts, both successive in the same lines and contemporary in several lines: because in the same place, you may stop that which comes one moment, and let pass that which comes presently after; and at the same time, you may stop it in one place, and let it pass in another. For that part of the light which is stopt cannot be the same with that which is let pass."
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Book I, Ch. I.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/History_of_optics
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History of optics
begins with the development of lenses by the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians, followed by theories on light and vision developed by ancient Greek philosophers, and the development of in the Greco-Roman world. The word optics is derived from the Greek term τα ὀπτικά meaning "appearance or look". Optics was significantly reformed by the developments in the medieval Islamic world, such as the beginnings of physical and physiological optics, and then significantly advanced in early modern Europe
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