Spectrum

(spek' -trum). The bij of ether-waves from a radiant body, having pas through a prism, or having been reflected Inn diffraction-grating, and thereby arranged according to their wave-lengths. S., Absorption spectrum which contains dark lines or bands, nil are produced in a continuous spectrum by the tion of incandescent vapors, through which the lil has pa ed, as in the solar atmosphere. determination of the nature of bodies by the cha' ter of their spectra. S., Auditory. See I'/trm. Photism. S., Comparison, the arrangement I side of the spectra of two different substances. I prism is placed just below the slit of the 1 so that light entering from a mirror at tin' of the drum shall be totally reflected in a 1 direction, and thus parallel with the rays from microscope. S., Complementary, a spectrum rived from bodies which change in chemic or nw ular constitution before reaching a sufficiently I S, Continu' temperature to become luminous. a spectrum without sudden variations of hue. in the various rainbow or spectral colors merge into one another. S., Double. See S., Comparison. S., Line, the spectrum resulting from incandescent gas. It consists not of the various rainbow colors, but of sharp, narrow, bright lines, the color depending on the substance; all the rest of the spectrum is dark. S., Normal, a spectrum in which the red color occupies about the same space as the blue and the violet. S., Solar, the spectrum of sunligltt. It contains many dark lines, the greater part of which can be identified in the spectra of known terrestrial substances. The presence in the sun's atmosphere of thirty-six elements has been established. peculum (spekr - u-luni). An instrument for examining the ear, nose, and other cavities; also, an instrument for dilating parts. In biology, see Ocellus. S., Sims', a peculiar form of vaginal speculum, sometimes called duckbill speculum. pedalskhed (sped-als'-ked'). A Skandinavian term for leprosy.