7 8 8 D O C . 5 0 3 O N N E W T O N ’ S M E C H A N I C S Published in Die Naturwissenschaften 15 (1927): 273–276. A manuscript is also available [1 057]. [1]An English translation appeared in the Manchester Guardian on 19 March 1927. [2]On ancient atomism as the prototype of causal thinking, see Einstein 1924f (Vol. 14, Doc. 260). [3]Newton defined mass as quantity of matter, measured by the product of quantity (volume) and density. Ernst Mach had criticized this definition as circular (see Mach 1897). For more on the devel- opment of the concept of mass, see Jammer 1964. [4]See, e.g., Harman 1982, pp. 8–10, for a historical discussion of the widespread use of mechan- ical models in nineteenth-century electromagnetic theory. [5]Ernst Mach’s critique of Newton’s conclusions from the rotating bucket experiment in Mach 1897, chap. 2.6, had great influence on Einstein (see Vol. 4, the editorial note, “Einstein on Gravita- tion and Relativity: The Static Field,” sec. IV). [6]In Einstein 1916e (Vol. 6, Doc. 30), Einstein had called Newton’s absolute space “a fictitious cause” (“eine fingierte Ursache”) for the same reason. [7]For more on Einstein’s views on the ether and the development of the concept of field, see Ein- stein 1920j (Vol. 7, Doc. 38) and Einstein 1924p (Vol 14, Doc. 332). [8]Einstein refers to the so-called electromagnetic worldview embodied especially in the works of Wilhelm Wien, Max Abraham, and Gustav Mie. For details, see Vol. 2, the editorial note, “Einstein on the Theory of Relativity,” sec. V. [9]See Einstein 1905r (Vol. 2, Doc. 23) for Einstein’s first paper on the subject. [10]Starting with Einstein 1920j (Vol. 7, Doc. 38), Einstein repeatedly characterized the deficiency of previous spacetime theories as compared to general relativity in terms of the violation of the prin- ciple of action and reaction. See Brown and Lehmkuhl 2017 for an account of this development. [11]This idea was elaborated in Einstein and Grommer 1927 (Doc. 443). [12]Although the mechanics of a mass point can rely on ordinary differential equations in time, the description of continuous media (elastic bodies, liquids, gases) as well as of fields, requires partial differential equations in both space and time. [13]Einstein had expressed similar thoughts in Einstein 1922o (Vol 13, Doc. 318). [14]A reference to the probabilistic interpretation of Schrödinger’s wave function (see Doc. 422).