Page:The principle of relativity (1920).djvu/25

 Maxwell-Lorentz system of field equations. It combined all the advantages of classic Maxwellian theory together with an electronic hypothesis. The Lorentz assumption of polarisation doublets had furnished a satisfactory explanation of the Fresnelian convection of ether, but in the new theory this is deduced merely as a consequence of the altered concept of relative velocity. In addition, the theory of Relativity accepted the results of Michelson and Morley's experiments as a definite principle, namely, the principle of the constancy of the velocity of light, so that there was nothing left for explanation in the Michelson-Morley experiment. But even more than all this, it established a single general principle which served to connect together in a simple coherent and fruitful manner the known facts of Physics.

The theory of Relativity received direct experimental confirmation in several directions. Repeated attempts were made to detect the Lorentz-Fitzgerald contraction. Any ordinary physical contraction will usually have observable physical results; for example, the total electrical resistance of a conductor will diminish. Trouton and Noble, Trouton and Rankine, Rayleigh and Brace, and others employed a variety of different methods to detect the Lorentz-*Fitzgerald contraction, but invariably with the same negative results. ''Whether there is an ether or not, uniform velocity with respect to it can never be detected.'' This does not prove that there is no such thing as an ether but certainly does render the ether entirely superfluous. Universal compensation is due to a change in local units of length and time, or rather, being merely different descriptions of the same reality, there is no compensation at all.

There was another group of observed phenomena which could scarcely be fitted into a Newtonian scheme of