Page:Experimental researches in chemistry and.djvu/454

1857 here; which would seem to imply that the particles are so small and so near, that two or more can act at once upon the individual atoms of the vibrating ether. Their association is such as to present as it were an optical continuity.

The gold films by phosphorus were then submitted to experiment, and gave exactly the same result. All of them depolarized, and required direct rotation of the analyser to arrive at a minimum, or to pass from the red to the blue tints. Graduated Elms, of which I should judge from the depth of tint that one place was at least twenty times as thick as another, gave the effect as well in the thinnest as the thicker or any intermediate part; indicating that thickness of the plate, and therefore any quality equivalent to crystalline force of the particles, had nothing to do with the matter. A glass beaker, which had been employed to contain ruby fluid, had a film of gold deposited on its inner surface so thin, as to be scarcely perceptible either by reflexion or otherwise, except by a ruby tint which appeared upon it in certain positions; but being examined by a polarized ray, it gave an effect as strong and as perfect as gold-leaf, showing how thin a film of gold was sufficient for the purpose. This thin film appeared to be almost perfect in its continuity, for when the red image was brought in, direct rotation of the analyser reduced it to a minimum which was quite dark; after which, further rotation brought in a good blue image. The least touch of the finger removed the film of gold and all these effects with it. These films, though they are certainly porous to gas, and to water in some form, for it can evaporate from beneath them through its body, have evidently optical continuity.

In order to submit the gold fluids to experiments, cells were made of two glass plates, separated by the thickness of a card, and fastened at the edges by varnish internally and gum externally. These being filled with dense ruby or blue fluid, gave no indication of action on the ray, showing that the diffused particles were inoperative. The same fluids, dried on plates of glass so as to leave films, did act just as the gold deflagrations had done; for though the particles were very irregularly spread, parts of the general deposit, and these not the thickest, could he selected, which produced the effect excellently well.