plane of polarization rotates in unit length of path is a numerical multiple of
,
where τ denotes the period of the light. Now it was shown by Verdet[1] that the magnetic rotation is approximately proportional to the inverse square of the wave-length; and hence we must have
;
so that the only equations capable of correctly representing Faraday's effect are either
,
or ,
The former pair arise, as will appear later, in Maxwell's theory of rotatory polarization: the latter pair, which were suggested in 1868 by Boussinesq.[2] follow from that physical theory of the phenomenon which is generally accepted at the present time.[3]
Airy's work on the magnetic rotation of light was limited in the same way as MacCullagh's work on the rotatory power of quartz; it furnished only an analytical representation of the effect, without attempting to justify the equations. The earliest endeavour to provide a physical theory seems to have been made in 1858, in the inaugural dissertations of Carl Neumann,