Page:The theory of relativity and its influence on scientific thought.djvu/30

26 molecular bombardment causing it. From either point of view there is a mysterious agent at work. How shall we picture to ourselves this agent? Shall we picture it as a force—a tug of some kind? But if so, to which of them is the tug applied? If we take the standpoint of Newton the tug is applied to the apple, if the standpoint of the apple the tug is applied to Newton; so that in our synthesis of all standpoints we cannot decide which is being tugged, and the picture of gravitation as a tugging agent becomes impossible. Einstein replaces it by a different picture, which we shall perhaps better understand if we compare it with a very similar revolution of scientific thought which occurred long ago.

The ancients believed that the earth was flat. The small portion of its surface with which they were chiefly concerned could be represented without serious distortion on a flat map. As more distant countries were added, it would be natural to think that they also could be included in the flat map. You have all seen such maps of the world, e. g. Mercator's projection, and you will remember how Greenland appears enormously exaggerated in size. Now those who adhered to the flat-earth theory must hold that the flat map gives the true size of Greenland. How then would they explain that travellers in that country reported that the distances were much shorter? They would, I suppose, invent a theory that a demon resided in that country who helped travellers on their way, making the journeys appear much shorter than they 'really' were. No doubt the scientists would preserve their self-respect by using some Graeco-Latin polysyllable instead of the word 'demon', but that must not disguise from us the fact that they were appealing to a deus ex machina. The name demon is rather suitable, however, because he has the impish characteristic that we cannot pin him down