| Description | He ha returned the slide to Preston. Marchant has not done much lately, having just returned from holiday. He became sceptical about the electrostatic effect after making further experiments. Lord Blythswood said he saw it plainly, but Marchant did not. It seems to Marchant that only the edges of the absorption bands should become illuminated, assuming that each band is composed of infinitely thin lines. He explains his reasoning further, with a diagram, describing right- and left-hand circularly polarized components and the action of vapour, concluding that only the edges of the bands that any light would appear. He apologises for the length of his description, saying that he wrote to [Joseph] Larmor about this, who considered it was the converse of the Kerr double refraction. He hopes that Preston's visit will settle the question. He was sorry to hear that Preston had been ill again. When Blythswood returns on 16 October they will try the electrostatic experiment again. |