Page:LorentzStatement1920.djvu/13

 magnetism to a small number of equations, which are fundamental in all subsequent work. But these equations were entangled with the hypothesis of the ether, and with the notion of motion relative to the ether. Since the ether was supposed to be at rest, such motion was indistinguishable from absolute motion. The motion of the earth relatively to the ether should have been different at different points of its orbit, and measurable phenomena should have resulted from this difference. But none did, and all attempts to detect effects of motions relative to the ether failed. The theory of relativity succeeded in accounting for this fact. But it was necessary incidentally to throw over the one universal time, and substitute local times at-