Page:A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism - Volume 2.djvu/122

 Rh from the scale being equal to the principal focal length of the lens. The straight line joining the zero of the scale with the optical centre of the lens ought to coincide as nearly as possible with the magnetic axis.

As these optical methods of ascertaining the angular position of suspended apparatus are of great importance in many physical researches, we shall here consider once for all their mathematical theory.

Theory of the Mirror Method.

We shall suppose that the apparatus whose angular position is to be determined is capable of revolving about a vertical axis. This axis is in general a fibre or wire by which it is suspended. The mirror should be truly plane, so that a scale of millimetres may be seen distinctly by reflexion at a distance of several metres from the mirror.

The normal through the middle of the mirror should pass through the axis of suspension, and should be accurately horizontal. We shall refer to this normal as the line of collimation of the apparatus.

Having roughly ascertained the mean direction of the line of collimation during the experiments which are to be made, a telescope is erected at a convenient distance in front of the mirror, and a little above the level of the mirror.

The telescope is capable of motion in a vertical plane, it is directed towards the suspension fibre just above the mirror, and a fixed mark is erected in the line of vision, at a horizontal distance from the object glass equal to twice the distance of the mirror from the object glass. The apparatus should, if possible, be so arranged that this mark is on a wall or other fixed object. In order to see the mark and the suspension fibre at the same time through the telescope, a cap may be placed over the object glass having a slit along a vertical diameter. This should be removed for the other observations. The telescope is then adjusted so that the mark is seen distinctly to coincide with the vertical wire at the focus of the telescope. A plumb-line is then adjusted so as to pass close in front of the optical centre of the object glass and to hang below the telescope. Below the telescope and just behind the plumb-line a scale of equal parts is placed so as to be bisected at right angles by the plane through the mark, the suspension-fibre, and the plumb-line. The sum of the heights of the scale and the