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Introduction

§ 1. The question as to whether the aether shares the motion of ponderable bodies or not, has still found no answer that satisfies all physicists. For the decision, primarily the aberration of light and related phenomena could be used, but so far none of the two contested theories, neither that of Fresnel, nor that of Stokes, were fully confirmed with respect to all observations, so concerning the choice between the two views we can only weigh against each other the remaining problems for both of them. By that I was long ago led to believe that with Fresnel's view, i.e. with the assumption of a stationary aether, we are on the right way. While against the view of Stokes there is hardly more than one objection, i.e. the doubt that his assumptions regarding the aether-motion in the vicinity of Earth are contradictory^[1], but this objection is of great weight, and I can't see at all how it could be eliminated.

The difficulties for Fresnel's theory stem from the known interference experiment of Michelson^[2] and, as some think, from the experiments, by which Des Coudres in vain sought to find an influence of Earth's motion on the

1. Lorentz. De l’influence du mouvement de la terre sur les phénomènes lumineux. Arch. néerl., T. 21, p. 103, 1887; Lodge. Aberration problems. London Phil. Trans., Vol. 184. A, p. 727, 1893; Lorentz. De aberratietheorie van Stokes. Zittingsverslagen der Akad. v. Wet. te Amsterdam, 1892—93, p. 97.
2. Michelson. American Journal of Science, 3d. Ser., Vol. 22, p. 120; Vol. 34, p. 333, 1887; Phil. Mag., 5th. Ser., Vol. 24, p. 449, 1887.