We will now pass on to the physical properties of the other end of the
spectrum. Towards the end of the last century, Scheele, a Swedish
philosopher, remarked that chloride of silver was blackened more quickly
by the violet portion of the spectrum than by any other. In 1801, Ritter
of Genoa, in repeating certain experiments made by Herschel, found that
a much stronger blackening effect was produced at a point beyond the
violet, and that the discoloration was produced with less intensity by
the violet and still less so by the blue, the change gradually
decreasing till the red ray was reached. He also found that when
slightly blackened chloride of silver was exposed to the effects of the
red rays, or even in the space beyond, its colour was restored to it.
From these facts he drew the conclusion that in the solar spectrum there
existed two kinds of rays, one at the red extremity, which favoured
oxygenation; the other, at the blue end, which possessed the contrary
properties. He also found that when phosphorus was placed in the
invisible rays beyond the red, it gave off fumes of oxide, which were
immediately extinguished when it was transferred to the other end.
On repeating the experiment with chloride of silver, Lubeck found that
the tint varied according to the colour in which it was placed. Beyond
or in the violet ray it became brownish red, in the blue it became
bluish or bluish grey, in the yellow it remained white, or became
slightly yellow and reddish in or beyond the red ray. When he used
prisms of flint glass, the chloride of silver was discoloured beyond the
visible limits of the spectrum.
Without being aware of Ritter’s experiments, Dr. Wollaston obtained the
same results by acting on chloride of silver with violet light. In
continuing his researches he discovered that gum guaiacum was also
influenced by the chemical rays of light.
The magnetic influence supposed to be exerted by the solar rays still
remains without positive proof, although numbers of philosophers have
experimented in this direction. More than fifty years ago Dr. Morichini
announced that the violet rays of the solar spectrum possessed the
property of magnetizing steel needles that were previously free from
magnetism. He produced this effect by concentrating the violet rays upon
one-half of each needle with a convex lens, taking care to keep the
other half concealed beneath a screen. After having continued this
experiment for more than an hour, the needles were found to be quite
magnetic.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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