478 



Royal Society : — 



to be his reward for the toil of wading through the mass of formulae 

 and computative details necessary to a mastery of the subject pre- 

 sented to him. A chaos of introductory examples, set forth in an 

 unexplained notation, is the least alluring commencement which 

 could possibly be given to a scientific treatise. 



We trust that we shall not have this fault to find with the forth- 

 coming works. At any rate there is far too much of originality and 

 power in the work before us, to leave us in doubt whether its sequel 

 will not amply repay our careful study. 



LXV. Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



ROYAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from p. 31 7-] 



June 19, 1862. — Major-General Sabine, President, in the Chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



" On the Reflexion of Polarized Light from Polished Surfaces." 

 By the Rev. Samuel Haughton, M.A., F.R.S., &c. 



When a plane-polarized beam of light is incident on a polished 

 surface at a certain angle of incidence, and polarized in a certain 

 azimuth, the reflected beam of light is circularly polarized. 



The tangent of this angle of incidence is called by the author the 

 Coefficient of Refraction, and upon it appears to depend the brilliancy 

 of a polished surface. 



The cotangent of the azimuth of incident polarization is called 

 the Coefficient of Reflexion, and upon it appears to depend the rich 

 lustre, strikingly exhibited in polished copper and gold. 



The paper contains an account of the experiments made to deter- 

 mine, with precision, these constants for the following substances : — 



A. Transparent Bodies. 





1. Munich glass (a). 







4. Fluor-spar. 





2. Munich glass ($). 







5. Glass of antimony. 





3, Paris glass, 







6. Quartz crystal. 





B. 



Pure Metals. 





1. Silver. 







7. Zinc. 





2. Gold. 







8. Lead. 





3. Mercury. 







9. Bismuth. 





4. Platinum. 







10. Tin. 





5. Palladium. 







11. Iron and steel. 





6. Copper. 







12. Aluminium. 







C. 



Alloys 





1. 



Copper and tin (speculum metal). 





9. Copper and zinc (3 Cu-fZn) 



2. 



Copper and zinc (10Cu-f Zn). 







10. „ „ (2Cu+Zn) 



3. 



„ (9Cu+Zn). 







11. „ „ (Cu+Zn). 



4. 



„ (8Cu+Zn). 

 „ (7Cu + Zn). 







12. „ „ (Cu+2Zn) 



5. 







13. „ „ (Cu+3Zn) 



6. 



„ (6Cu+Zn). 







14. „ „ (Cu+4Zn) 



7. 



„ (5Cu+Zn). 







15. „ „ (Cu-r-5Zn) 



8. 



„ (4Cu+Zn). 









