DOC. 38 ETHER AND RELATIVITY 165
ETHER
AND
RELATIVITY
7
the
stationary
luminiferous
ether-more-
over
found
a
strong support
in
an experi-
ment
which is also
of
fundamental
import-
ance
in
the
special
theory
of
relativity,
the
experiment
of
Fizeau,
from which
one was obliged
to
infer
that the
lumini-
ferous
ether
does not
take
part
in
the
movements of bodies. The
phenomenon
of
aberration
also favoured
the
theory
of
the
quasi-rigid
ether.
[5]
The
development
of
the
theory
of
electric-
ity
along
the
path
opened
up by
Maxwell
and
Lorentz
gave
the
development
of
our
ideas
concerning
the
ether
quite
a peculiar
and
unexpected
turn.
For
Maxwell
him-
self
the ether
indeed
still had
properties
which
were purely
mechanical, although
of
a
much
more
complicated
kind
than
the
mechanical
properties
of
tangible
solid
bodies.
But neither
Maxwell
nor
his
followers succeeded in
elaborating
a
mechanical model for
the ether
which
[6]
might
furnish
a
satisfactory
mechanical
interpretation
of
Maxwell’s
laws
of
the
electro-magnetic
field.
The laws
were
clear
and
simple,
the
mechanical
interpretations
Previous Page Next Page