Xray::absorption supports access to x-ray absorption data. it is designed to be a transparent interface to absorption data from a variety of sources. currently, the only sources of data are the 1969 mcmaster tables, the 1999 elam tables, the 1993 henke tables, and the 1995 chantler tables. the brennan-cowen implementation of the cromer-liberman tables is available as a drop-on-top addition to this package. more resources can be added easily.