356
COMMENT
ON
MIRIMANOFF
he
would only
have had
to apply
the
boundary
conditions
corresponding to
his
system
of equations.
According
to what
we
said above, he
would
have had
to
come
to
the
same
conclusions
as we
did,
since his
theory
is identical with
Minkowski's.
In
conclusion, I
would
also
like
to
point
to
the importance of
the
[5]
recently
published
paper
by
Ph. Frank,1 which,
by
taking
into
account the
Lorentz
contraction,
restores
the
agreement
between
Lorentz's
treatment, based
[6]
on
the
electron
theory,
and
Minkowski's treatment of the
electrodynamics
of
moving
bodies.The
advantage
of
the
treatment
based
on
the
electron
theory
consists,
on
the
one
hand,
in
providing
a
graphic
interpretation
of
the field
vectors
and,
on
the other
hand,
in
dispensing
with the arbitrary
assumption
that
the
derivatives
of
the
velocity
of
matter
do not
appear
in
the
[7]
differential
equations.
[8]
Bern,
January 1909.
(Received
on
22
January
1909)
[9]
1Ph.
Frank,
Ann. d. Phys. 27 (1908):
1059.