The refractive index of a film of transparent or translucent material may be determined by immersing the film in a suitable liquid mixture and observing the intensity of light reflected from the surface of the specimen. The composition of the immersion liquid is varied, and a record is made of its refractive index (measured on a refractometer) and of the reflected light intensity. The refractive index of the film is the same as that of the immersion liquid giving the lowest reflected intensity. This has been confirmed by experiments with a glass plate, whose refractive index was known. According to Fresnel's laws of reflection, the experimental data should fit a parabola with its minimum at the refractive index of the film. On fitting the data by the method of least squares, the minimum is obtained with a standard deviation of the order of 0.002 refractive index units. The method has been applied to several plastic materials.