investigation of rocks, and it was not till 1858 that Sorby
pointed out its value. Meanwhile the optical study of sections
of crystals had been advanced by Sir David Brewster and other
physicists and mineralogists and it only remained to apply
their methods to the minerals visible in rock sections. Very
rapid progress was made and the names of Zirkel, Allport,
Vogelsang, Schuster, Rosenbusch, Bertrand, Fouqué and Lévy
are among those of the most active pioneers in the new field of
research. To such importance have microscopical methods
attained that textbooks of petrology at the present time are very
largely devoted to a description of the appearances presented
by the minerals of rocks as studied in transparent micro-sections.
A good rock-section should be about one-thousandth of an inch in thickness, and is by no means very difficult to make. A thin splinter of the rock, about as large as a halfpenny may be taken; it should be as fresh as possible and free from obvious cracks. By grinding on a plate of planed steel or cast iron with a little fine carborundum it is soon rendered flat on one side Sections. and is then transferred to a sheet of plate glass and smoothed with the very finest emery till all minute pits and roughnesses are removed and the surface is a uniform plane. The rock-chip is then washed, and placed on a copper or iron plate which is heated by a spirit or gas lamp. A microscopic glass slip is also warmed on this plate with a drop of viscous natural Canada balsam on its surface. The more volatile ingredients of the balsam are dispelled by the heat, and when that is accomplished the smooth, dry, warm rock is pressed firmly into contact with the glass plate so that the film of balsam intervening may be as thin as possible and free from air-bubbles. The preparation is allowed to cool and then the rock chip is again ground down as before, first with carborundum and, when it becomes transparent, with fine emery till the desired thickness is obtained it is then cleaned, again heated with a little more balsam, and covered with a cover glass. The labour of grinding the first surface may be avoided by cutting off a smooth slice with an iron disk armed with crushed diamond powder. A second application of the slitter after the first face is smoothed and cemented to the glass will in expert hands leave a rock-section so thin as to be already transparent. In this way the preparation of a section may require only twenty minutes.
The microscope employed is usually one which is provided with a rotating stage beneath which there is a polarizer, while above the objective or the eyepiece an analyser is mounted; alternatively the stage may be fixed and the polarizing and analysing prisms may be capable of simultaneous rotation by means of toothed wheels and a connecting-rod. if ordinary light and not polarized light is desired, both prisms may be withdrawn from the Microscope. axis of the instrument, if the polarizer only is inserted the light transmitted is plane polarized, with both prisms in position the slide is viewed between “crossed nicols” A microscopic rock-section in ordinary light if a suitable magnification (say 30) be employed is seen to consist of grains or crystals varying in colour, size and shape. Some minerals are colourless and transparent Characters of Minerals. (quartz, calcite, felspar, muscovite, &c.), others are yellow or brown (rutile, tourmaline, biotite), green (diopside, hornblende, chlorite), blue (glaucophane), pink (garnet), &c. The same mineral may present a variety of colours, in the same or different rocks, and these colours may be arranged in zones parallel to the surfaces of the crystals. Thus tourmaline may be brown, yellow, pink, blue, green, violet, grey or colourless, but every mineral has one or more characteristic, because most common tints The shapes of the crystals determine in a general way the outlines of the sections of them presented on the slides If the mineral has one or more good cleavages they will be indicated by systems of cracks (see Pl. III.) The refractive index is also clearly shown by the appearance of the sections, which are rough, with well-defined borders if they have a much stronger refraction than the medium in which they are mounted. Some minerals decompose readily and become turbid and semi-transparent (e.g. felspar); others remain always perfectly fresh and clear (e.g. quartz), others yield characteristic secondary products (such as green chlorite after biotite). The inclusions in the crystals are of great interest; one mineral may enclose another, or may contain spaces occupied by glass, by fluids or by gases.
Lastly the structure of the rock, that is to say, the relation of its components to one another, is usually clearly indicated, whether it be fragmental or massive; the presence of glassy matter in contradistinction to a completely crystalline or “holo-crystalline” condition; the nature and origin of organic fragments; banding, foliation or lamination; the pumiceous Micro-structure. or porous structure of many lavas; these and many other characters, though often not visible in the hand specimens of a rock, are rendered obvious by the examination of a microscopic section. Many refined methods of observation may be introduced, such as the measurement of the size of the elements of the rock by the help of micrometers; their relative proportions by means of a glass plate ruled in small squares, the angles between cleavages or faces seen in section by the use of the rotating graduated stage, and the estimation of the refractive index of the mineral by comparison with those of different mounting media.
Further information is obtained by inserting the polarizer and rotating the section. The light vibrates now only in one plane, and in passing through doubly refracting crystals in the slide is, speaking generally, broken up into two rays, which vibrate at right angles to one another. In many coloured minerals such as biotite, hornblende, tourmaline, chlorite, Pleochroism. these two rays have different colours, and when a section containing any of these minerals is rotated the change of colour is often very striking. This property, known as “pleochroism” (Gr. πλείων, more; χρώς, colour), is of great value in the determination of rock-making minerals. It is often especially intense in small spots which surround minute enclosures of other minerals, such as zircon and epidote; these are known as “pleochroic halos.”
If the analyser be now inserted in such a position that it is crossed
relatively to the polarizer the field of view will be dark where there
are no minerals, or where the light passes through isotropic
substances such as glass, liquids and cubic crystals.
All other crystalline bodies, being doubly refracting,
will appear bright in some position as the stage is rotated. The
Double Refraction.
Extinction.
only exception to this rule is provided by sections which are
perpendicular to the optic axes of birefringent crystals; these
remain dark or nearly dark during a whole rotation, and as will
be seen later, their investigation is of special importance. The
doubly refracting mineral sections, however, will in all cases
appear black in certain positions as the stage is
rotated. They are said to be “extinguished” when
this takes place. If we note these positions we may measure
the angle between them and any cleavages, faces or other
structures of the crystal by means of the rotating stage. These
angles are characteristic of the system to which the mineral belongs
and often of the mineral species itself (see Crystallography.
To facilitate measurement of extinction angles various kinds of
eyepieces have been devised, some having a stauroscopic calcite
plate, others with two or four plates of quartz cemented together;
these are often found to give more exact results than are obtained
by observing merely the position in which the mineral section is most
completely dark between crossed nicols.
The mineral sections when not extinguished are not only bright but are coloured and the colours they show depend on several factors, the most important of which is the strength of the double refraction. If all the sections are of the same thickness as is nearly true of well-made slides, the minerals with strongest double refraction yield the highest polarization colours. The order in which the colours are arranged is that known as Newton’s scale, the lowest being dark grey, then grey, white, yellow, orange, red, purple, blue and so on. The difference between the refractive indexes of the ordinary and the extraordinary ray in quartz is ·009, and in a rock-section about 1500 of an inch thick this mineral gives grey and white polarization tints; nepheline with weaker double refraction gives dark grey; augite on the other hand will give red and blue, while calcite with still stronger double refraction will appear pinkish or greenish white. All sections of the same mineral, however, will not have the same colour; it was stated above that sections perpendicular to an optic axis will be nearly black, and, in general, the more nearly any section approaches this direction the lower its polarization colours will be. By taking the average, or the highest colour given by any mineral, the relative value of its double refraction can be estimated; or if the thickness of the section be precisely known the difference between the two refractive indexes can be ascertained. If the slides be thick the colours will be on the whole higher than in thin slides.
It is often important to find out whether of the two axes of elasticity (or vibration traces) in the section is that of greater elasticity (or lesser refractive index). The quartz wedge or selenite plate enables us to do this. Suppose a doubly refracting mineral section so placed that it is “extinguished”; if now it is rotated through 45° it will be brightly illuminated. If the quartz wedge be passed across it so that the long axis of the wedge is parallel to the axis of elasticity in the section the polarization colours will rise or fall. If they rise the axes of greater elasticity in the two minerals are parallel; if they sink the axis of greater elasticity in the one is parallel to that of lesser elasticity in the other. In the latter case by pushing the wedge sufficiently far complete darkness or compensation will result. Selenite wedges, selenite plates, mica wedges and mica plates are also used for this purpose. A quartz wedge also may be calibrated by determining the amount of double refraction in all parts of its length. If now it be used to produce compensation or complete extinction in any doubly refracting mineral section, we can ascertain what is the strength of the double refraction of the section because it is obviously equal and opposite to that of a known part of the quartz wedge.
A further refinement of microscopic methods consists of the use of strongly convergent polarized light (konoscopic methods). This is obtained by a wide angled achromatic condenser above the polarizer, and a high power microscopic objective. Those sections are most useful which are perpendicular to an optic axis, and consequently remain dark on rotation If they belong to uniaxial crystals they show a dark cross or convergent light between crossed nicols,
