ABERRATION, in optics, is used to denote that error or deviation of the rays of light, when inflected by a lens or speculum, whereby they are hindered from meeting or uniting in the same point. There are two species of the aberrations of rays, distinguished by their different causes; one arising from the figure of the glass or speculum, the other from the unequal refrangibility of the rays of light. This last species is sometimes called the Newtonian, from the name of its discoverer. See OPTICS, no 17. 136. 173.