Fig. 84.—Pair of Brazilian Twins of Quartz.
Fig. 85.—Completely Interpenetrated Brazilian Twins of Quartz.
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.
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.
PLATE XVII.
Fig. 87.—Natural Biquartz exhibiting the Black Band (Nicols crossed) at the Oblique Junction of the Right-handed and Left-handed Parts.
