Page:Light waves and their uses.djvu/94

76 Fig. 61 illustrates the arrangement of the apparatus as it is actually used. An ordinary prism spectroscope gives a preliminary analysis of the light from the source. This is necessary because the spectra of most substances consist of numerous lines. For example, the spectrum of mercury contains two yellow lines, a very brilliant green line, and a less brilliant violet line. If we pass all the light together into the interferometer, we have a combination of all four. It is usually better to separate the various radiations before they enter the interferometer. Accordingly, the light from the vacuum tube at a passes through an