Page:Collected Physical Papers.djvu/122



In my previous papers I have given accounts of the double refraction and polarisation of electric waves produced by various crystals and other substances, and also by strained dielectrics. An account was there given of the polarisation apparatus with which the effects were studied. In the present investigation effects had to be studied which were exceedingly feeble. The apparatus had, therefore, to be made of extreme sensitiveness; but the secondary disturbances became at the same time more pronounced, and the great difficulty experienced was in avoiding them.

In one of my communications I alluded to the fact that the secondary disturbances are to a great extent reduced when the radiators are made small. The advantage of a large radiator is the comparative ease with which the receiver can be adjusted to respond to the waves, but this advantage is more than counterbalanced by the increased difficulty with the stray radiation and other disturbances. On the other hand, with small radiators, the difficulty is in the proper adjustment of the receiver. It then becomes necessary to have very exact adjustments of the receiver, both as regards the pressure to which the sensitive spirals are subjected and the E. M. F. acting on the circuit. It is only after some practice that the peculiarity of each receiver is properly understood, when it becomes easy to make the necessary adjustments by which the receiver