compressing
them
into
an essay
that resembles
more
a
program
than
a
treatise. As I
was
completely lacking in
materials that would have
enabled
me
to
delve into
the
subject
more
deeply
than by merely
meditating
about it, I beg
you
not to
interpret
this circumstance
as a
mark of
superficiality.
May
the
indulgence
of
the
sympathetic
reader
match the humble
feelings
with
which
I
present
these lines.
At
its
inception,
an
electric current
sets
the
surrounding
ether
in
a
kind of momentary
motion whose nature it has not yet been
possible
to determine with
certainty. Despite
the continuance of the
cause
of
this
motion,
i.e.,
the electric current, the ether remains in
a
potential
state and forms
a
magnetic
field.
That the
magnetic field
is
a
potential
state is proved by
the
permanent magnet,
for the law of
conservation of
energy
precludes
here the
possibility
of
a
state of
motion.
The
motion
of
the
ether
produced
by
an
electric
current lasts
until the
acting
motor forces
have
been
compensated
by equivalent
passive forces
originating
from the deformation
produced
by
the
motion
of the
ether.
The marvelous experiments of Hertz
most
ingeniously
elucidated
the
dynamic
nature of these phenomena, the propagation
in
space, as
well
as
the
qualitative identity
of these
motions with
light
and
heat.
I believe that it would be of great importance
for the
understanding
of the
electromagnetic
phenomena also to undertake
a
comprehensive
experimental
investigation
of
the
potential
states
of the ether in
magnetic
fields of all
kinds,
or,
in
other
words,
to
measure
the
elastic deformations and the
acting deforming
forces.
Any elastic
change
of the ether at
any
(free) point in
some
direction has
to
be ascertainable from the
change undergone
by
the
velocity
of
an
ether
wave
at
this
point
and in this direction. The
wave
velocity
is proportional
to the
square
root of the
elastic
forces
serving
the
propagation
and
inversely proportional
to
the ether
masses
to be moved by these forces.
Since the
density changes
produced by
elastic deformations
are
usually
insignificant, they probably
might be
neglected in
this
case
too. One
might
therefore state with
very
good
approximation
that the
square
root of the ratio of the change in
propagation velocity (wave
length) is equal to the ratio of the change
in the elastic force.
I would not dare
to
decide what
kind
of ether
waves
--
light,
or
else
electrodynamic
waves
--
and what method of
measuring
the
wave
length
would be most suitable for the
examination of the
magnetic
field; basically,
this would
not
matter
anyway.
Provided
a
change
of the
wave
length in the magnetic
field
is
ascertainable in
any
direction,
the first
question
to
be solved
experimentally
could be whether it is only the component of the
elastic state in the direction
of
wave
propagation
that exerts
an
effect
on
the
propagation velocity,
or
whether
such
an
effect
is
also
exerted by
the
component perpendicular
to
the
direction,
since it is
a
priori
clear that in
a
regular magnetic field,
be it
shaped
like
a
cylinder
or a
pyramid,
the elastic states
are
at
any
point
completely
homogeneous perpendicular
to
the direction of the lines of
force and
different
in the direction of the lines of
force.
Hence,
if
polarized
waves
are
allowed
to
penetrate
perpendicularly
to
the
direction of the
lines of
force,
the direction of the plane of
vibration
would be of
significance
for the propagation
velocity
--
provided
the elastic
force component perpendicular to the
propagation
of
a wave
would
indeed have
an
effect
on
the propagation velocity.
This is
probably
not the
case, even
though
the phenomenon
of double refraction does
5