In other words, Huygens postulated that the more light was "bent" or refracted by a substance, the slower it would move while traversing across that substance. Huygens' theory of light refraction, based on the concept of the wave-like nature of light, held that the velocity of light in any substance was inversely proportion to its refractive index. Although Newton, himself, appeared to have some doubt about his corpuscular theory on the nature of light, his prestige in the scientific community held so much weight that his advocates ignored all other evidence during their ferocious battles.
The opposing camp cited Sir Isaac Newton's prism experiments as proof that light traveled as a shower of particles, each proceeding in a straight line until it was refracted, absorbed, reflected, diffracted or disturbed in some other manner. One group of scientists, who subscribed to the wave theory, centered their arguments on the discoveries of Dutchman Christiaan Huygens. In the early Eighteenth Century, the argument about the nature of light had turned the scientific community into divided camps that fought vigorously over the validity of their favorite theories. Only during the first decades of the 20th Century was enough compelling evidence collected to provide a comprehensive answer, and to everyone's surprise, both theories turned out to be correct, at least in part. During the past few centuries, the consensus of opinion has wavered with one view prevailing for a period of time, only to be overturned by evidence for the other.
The opposing view holds that light is composed of a steady stream of particles, much like tiny droplets of water sprayed from a garden hose nozzle. One point of view envisions light as wave-like in nature, producing energy that traverses through space in a manner similar to the ripples spreading across the surface of a still pond after being disturbed by a dropped rock.
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