1
296 ON THE CHANGE OF REFRANGIBILITY OF LIGHT.
dispersion it strongly resembles a solution of guaiacum, but the final tint of the dispersed light does not correspond to so high a mean refrangibility. When the fluid was examined by the third method, the true dispersion appeared to commence about b. The absorbing power was so great for the rays of high refrangibility, that from a little above F (in the case of tincture not diluted with alcohol) to the end the dispersed light seemed to be confined to the mere surface. By the fourth method the dispersion was as usual traced a little lower down in the spectrum. When the dispersed beam was first perceived it was nearly homogeneous, and its refrangibility was only a very little less than that of the active light. As the refrangibility of the active light increased, new colours, in the order of their refrangibility, entered into the dispersed beam, which became more and more composite, while at |j the same time its upper limit became distinctly separated from
the beam of falsely dispersed light, which, when the whole dispersed beam was analysed by a prism, was always found in advance of the other. The tint of the dispersed beam passed from orange through yellow to yellowish green, which was its final tint. Tincture of turmeric is well adapted for exhibiting the fixed lines in the invisible part of the spectrum, though per-* 1; haps not quite so well as a solution of sulphate of quinine.
Alcoholic Extract from the Seeds of the Datura Stramonium.
43. This fluid, which I was led to try in consequence of Sir David Brewster's paper, proved to be remarkably sensitive, and exhibited a copious dispersive reflexion of a pale but lively green. The general phenomena are so nearly the same as in a solution of sulphate of quinine that there is no need of a separate description. The principal difference consists in the tint, which is green instead of blue. In the present case, however, the fluid, in addition to its dispersion of green, dispersed a red beam under the influence of certain red rays. A.S the lens employed in the fourth method of examination was moved from the extreme red onwards, the light was at first inactive, but when the lens reached a certain point of the spectrum, a red beam of truly dispersed light suddenly appeared, which disappeared with almost equal suddenness as the lens moved on. In this mode of observation the refrangibility of the dispersed could hardly be distinguished from that of