Ultraviolet quickly than violet light itself. He called them "oxidizing rays" to emphasize chemical reactivity and to distinguish them from "heat rays", discovered the previous year at the other end of the visible spectrum. The simpler term "chemical rays" was adopted shortly thereafter, and it remained popular throughout the 19th century, although there were those who held that these were an entirely different sort of radiation from light (notably John William Draper, who named them "tithonic rays"). The terms chemical rays and heat rays were eventually dropped in favor of ultraviolet and infrared radiation, respectively. In 1878 the sterilizing effect of
Photoelectric effect with an induction coil between zinc or cadmium terminals, the light from which is very rich in ultra-violet rays. Sunlight is not rich in ultra-violet rays, as these have been absorbed by the atmosphere, and it does not produce nearly so large an effect as the arc-light. Many substances besides metals discharge negative electricity under the action of ultraviolet light: lists of these substances will be found in papers by G. C. Schmidt and O. Knoblauch. In 1839, Alexandre Edmond Becquerel discovered the photovoltaic effect while studying the effect of light on electrolytic cells. Though not equivalent to the photoelectric