  We describe a self calibrating optical technique that allows to perform
absolute measurements of scattering cross sections for the light scattered at
extremely small angles. Very good performances are obtained by using a very
simple optical layout similar to that used for the schlieren method, a
technique traditionally used for mapping local refraction index changes. The
scattered intensity distribution is recovered by a statistical analysis of the
random interference of the light scattered in a half-plane of the scattering
wave vectors and the main transmitted beam. High quality data can be obtained
by proper statistical accumulation of scattered intensity frames, and the
static stray light contributions can be eliminated rigorously. The
potentialities of the method are tested in a scattering experiment from non
equilibrium fluctuations during a free diffusion experiment. Contributions of
light scattered from length scales as long as Lambda=1 mm can be accurately
determined.
