This 1972 monograph is devoted to the analysis and interpretation of the infrared and Raman spectra of solid compounds, frequently used for their identification and characterization. It was thought unsatisfactory to analyse such spectra by the theory applicable to gas-phase samples, though this was frequently done. Furthermore, the results obtained by far infrared and laser Raman spectrometers, which detect the movement of atoms and/or molecules as a whole, had no gas-phase analogy. A separate approach to solid state vibrational spectra was therefore proposed within this volume. Dr Sherwood describes the solid state physics of vibrational spectroscopy and extends it to the more complex structures of low symmetry. He assumes an understanding of the infrared and Raman spectra of gases.