A natural biquartz of 3.75 millimetres thickness cut from such a crystal
as is shown in Fig. 85, the plate having a hexagonal outline just as if
the crystal were really a single one, may next be projected on the
screen. The Nicols being crossed, the outline of the crystal is seen
sharply defined, the whole area of the crystal being coloured a uniform
yellow, there being absolutely no trace of any dividing line. But the
moment one commences to turn the analysing Nicol different shades,
orange and green respectively, begin to develop on the two sides of the
line indicating the plane of composition of the twin, the hexagon being
divided by a diametral line joining two corners, which have been
arranged in mounting the plate in its carrier frame to be above one
another, so as to bring the line of composition vertical, as will be
clear from Fig. 86. On rotating the analyser further the difference is
still more marked, and we have blue on one side and orange red on the
other, developing still deeper into red and purple as the analyser
approaches the parallel position with respect to the polariser; when
this latter position is attained the transition violet tint is developed
evenly over the whole plate, and the dividing line has again
disappeared.
[Illustration:
FIG. 86.—A Natural Biquartz in Parallel Polarised Light.
]
Another natural biquartz, also shown in the author’s lecture at
Winnipeg, introduces us to a new phenomenon. For when the Nicols are
crossed we observe a black band down the centre of the plate, marking
the line of division of the twins. When the analyser is rotated until it
is parallel to the polariser this black band changes to a white one, the
sequence of colours on the different sides of the band, that is, in each
half of the plate, being the same as just described. The effect with
crossed Nicols is more or less simulated in Fig. 87, Plate XVII., which
is a reproduction of a direct photograph of the screen picture. The
reason for this black band in the dark field, and for the white one in
the bright field, is that the two halves of the twin overlap at the
centre, the plane of junction of the two individual crystals being
oblique to the plate, instead of exactly perpendicular thereto as was
the case with the first natural biquartz. We are, in fact, beginning to
get the effect of two superposed wedges of quartz.
[Illustration:
_PLATE XVII._
FIG. 87.—Natural Biquartz exhibiting the Black Band (Nicols crossed)
at the Oblique Junction of the Right-handed and Left-handed Parts.
]
[Illustration:
FIG. 88.—Artificial Biquartz, the two parts being obliquely joined in
order to produce the Black Band.
DIRECT PHOTOGRAPHS OF PICTURES PROJECTED ON THE SCREEN BY THE LANTERN
POLARISCOPE, USING PARALLEL LIGHT.
]
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