The Structure of the Æther

Abstract

IN the current number of the Philosophical Magazine I have given in some detail certain objections to identifying the magnetic vector with translational æthereal motion, and to a large extent these are on all fours with Prof. Hicks's objection, which is cited by Sir Oliver Lodge in the same number, and of which I had lost sights Very briefly, thus: if bodily æther flow were (within a constant factor) identical with magnetic induction, or were even an essential feature thereof, our judgment as to whether or not a given region was pervaded by magnetic induction would depend on the arbitrary origin of coordinate axes relatively to which we chose to measure velocities, motion of bodies through the æther being physically indistinguishable from an equal and opposite motion of the æther with those bodies at rest.