INTRODUCTION BY THE 



TRANSLATOR ' 



IN writing this English version of Blondlot's 

 communications to the French Academy, the 

 translator's constant endeavour has been to 

 preserve that simplicity and straightforwardness 

 which render the original a model of scientific 

 exposition. That this object has been attained 

 he will not venture to assert, but he hopes that, 

 at any rate, the reader will be enabled to follow 

 the successive stages of thought in the mind 

 of the discoverer as he progresses from experi- 

 ment to experiment in a hitherto unexplored 

 domain. If this hope be fulfilled, the book will 

 be welcome not only to those who desire to 

 make acquaintance with " N " rays, but also 

 to all lovers of scientific research, as well as to 



