The radiant spectrum

Abstract

Dr. Hartridge's objections to my explanation of this phenomenon (Nature, September 1, p. 12, and December 8, 1921, p. 467) seem to be based on an imperfect appreciation of Brewster's observations on the subject. Brewster brings out two facts clearly in his paper: First, when a very small and intense source of white light is viewed directly by the eye it appears surrounded by a system of radiating streamers which appear to diverge directly from it; secondly, when a prism of small dispersive power is interposed in front of the eye the streamers are deviated and now appear to diverge from a point lying beyond the violet end of the spectrum into which the source itself is drawn out. It, is clearly illogical to suggest, as Dr. Hartridge does, that the prism is responsible for the radiant phenomenon in view of the fact that, in its essential features, the effect is observed even before the introduction of the prism.