On the laws which regulate the absorption of polarized light by doubly refracting crystals. By David Brewster, LL. D. F. R. S. Lond. and Edinb. In a letter addressed to the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks, Bart. G. C. B. P. R. S
In examining the polarizing structure of acetate of copper, the author’s attention was drawn to certain changes of colour exhibited by its crystal, when exposed in different positions to polarized light; and as these were independent of the thickness of the plate, and of any analysis of the transmitted pencil, he was induced to regard them as a new affection of light, ascribable to the absorption of the homogeneous tints forming the compound colour of the crystal. Dr. Brewster, therefore, collected a variety of coloured crystals, with a view to examine the phenomena which they presented, when cut at different angles with the axis, and when exposed in different positions to polarized light. The details of this examination are next given; and as the property of transparent bodies, by which they detain and assimilate to their own substance a portion of the rays which penetrate them while the rest are freely transmitted, is related to the axes of double refraction, the author first describes the phenomena presented by crystals of one axis, and then explains the modifications which they undergo when the number of axes is increased. It appears from these investigations that the colouring particles of crystals, instead of being indiscriminately dispersed throughout their mass, have an arrangement related to the ordinary and extraordinary forces which they exert upon light. In some cases, the extraordinary medium appeared to be tinged with the same kind and number of colouring particles as the ordinary medium; but in other cases, in the same mineral, the extraordinary medium was either tinged with a different number of particles of the same colour, or with a colouring matter entirely different from that of the ordinary medium. In some specimens of topaz the colouring matter of the one medium was more easily discharged by heat than that of the other, one of the pencils being yellow and the other pink : hence it is a mistake to suppose that in converting yellow topazes into pink by heat, the former colour is changed into the latter; the fact being, that the yellow is discharged by heat, thus leaving the pink unimpaired. Hence it may be ascertained beforehand whether a topaz will receive a pink colour by heat; for if that colour exist in one of its images, seen by exposing it to a polarized ray, we may predict the success of the experiment.