ABSTRACT
The account of the development of internal reflection spectroscopy contains its share of premature discovery and independent development. The history of internal reflection spectroscopy has been written with the assumption that the reader is familiar with the jargon and current theory of this technique. The period following the initial publications describing the internal reflection spectroscopy technique in the early 1960s was characterized by relatively slow growth. The fiber optics light guides may have cladding along much of the length and be unclad in the region where they act as internal reflection elements. The widespread utilization of internal reflection spectroscopy was begun with the work of J. Fahrenfort and N. J. Harrick. Both these investigators described the theoretical principles of the technique and suggested a wide range of applications.
