The EDX Spectrometer in Museumuse

The enthusiasm for X-ray Fluorescence Spectroscopy using energy dispersive detection (EDX) evinced over the past year or so by Frankel,1 Hanson2 and workers in Ottawa3'4will continue, and a deluge of analytical results can be safely prophesized in the near future. Our confidence has extended to purchase by the National Conservation Research Laboratory of the instrument I will describe. Our EDX spectrometer has been in operation for approximately five months at the time of writing. The usual requirements with any new instrument of familiarization, optimization, modification, and calibration have occupied most of my attention in that period. However, before embarking on any project in depth, I have taken the opportunity to look briefly at a variety of objects. These have been chosen more on the basis of availability and ease of handling than from any scholarly motive. The purpose of this exercise is to provide some familiarity with the capabilities and limitations of the instrument in its present form and to suggest lines of study of potential interest.