A Simple, Fast and Excellent Method for Polishing Dull Infrared Windows In an emergency, one can come up with an idea that can save one's face. This happened to me when I was doing undergraduate research work da this University. I took some infrared spectra of two samples that were still wet. I was not aware of this and I prepared a suspension in Nujolof each one and took thespectras with NaCl cells for one and with KC1 for the other; they are the best cells that the department has. Consequently, they got clouded, and I wanted to repair the damage without letting my colleagues know about my clumsiness. I could not use the polishing system because it was in the laboratory of the Head of the Department. I recalled that there are some metal polish products on the market in various forms, liquid and paste, (Brasso, etc.) and decided to try one of them on adiscarded crystal (Brasso in paste form), I smeared on aclath and using gloves, started to polish the crystal by moving it hack and forth over the paste on the cloth; in less than a minute, the result was that the crystal was very clear. After this test I risked using the crystals that I had ruined. They too were returned t o transparency. Jose M. Gallego G. Universidad Autonoma d e Guadalajara Instituta d e Ciencias Exactas y Terrestres Departamento de Quimica Guadalajara, Mexico
Volume 55, Number 10, October 1978 I 681
