Page:The wonders of optics (1869).djvu/95

Rh reuniting the colours by causing them to pass through a double convex lens, behind which is placed a screen of ground glass, or a card (fig. 8). By advancing and withdrawing this screen we can easily find the exact spot where the rays reunite, and form a dazzling spot of white light. This point is called the focus, from a Latin word, signifying "fire-place," a term which will put the student in mind of the frequently repeated experiment of burning a piece of paper with an ordinary magnifying-glass.

Instead of using a lens, you can, if you please, employ a concave mirror, using the ground glass or cardboard screen, as before. The colours reflected by the mirror unite at its focus, and produce a brilliant white spot in just as conclusive a manner as in the other experiment.



A fourth experiment, which is somewhat more difficult for the student to accomplish, consists in causing every one of the seven different colours to be reflected from a separate mirror.

The mirrors in this case are concave, and are so mounted as to be capable of being moved in any direction. By directing each of the seven rays, one by one, upon the same point, you may observe the gradual