Author Description

Excerpt from Science Lectures at South Kensington, Vol. 2 of 2 According to the proposal of the director who has organised the present course, the lecture of this morning will be devoted to a description of some of the principal instruments used for investigating polarised light, and to an explanation of their use. With this purpose in view I have selected a few from the magnificent collection now in the Loan Exhibition. These you may now see on the table, and although they are only a few out of many, I doubt not that we have enough, or even more than enough, to occupy our attention during the hour at our disposal. With one exception my selection has been confined to the smaller and Simpler instruments, partly because, following the example of Professor Stokes, it will be my Object to explain principles rather than to repeat experiments, and to indicate What may be done with instru' ments of the Simplest form, and even of home construction and partly because it has been suggested that at one of the evening lectures I Should make use of the larger and more elaborate instruments, and by their aid exhibit the magnificent phenomena to which the subject gives rise. And let me here take the opportunity of drawing your attention to the fact that at present the collection of apparatus appertaining to polarised light is unique, and that it furnishes the means of exhibiting the effects in question on a scale never before attempted. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections suc