SIDELIGHTS ON RELATIVITY

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for free space.

As to the mechanical nature of the Lorentzian ether, it may be said
of it, in a somewhat playful spirit, that immobility is the only
mechanical property of which it has not been deprived by H. A.
Lorentz. It may be added that the whole change in the conception
of the ether which the special theory of relativity brought about,
consisted in taking away from the ether its last mechanical quality,
namely, its immobility. How this is to be understood will forthwith
be expounded.

The space-time theory and the kinematics of the special theory
of relativity were modelled on the Maxwell-Lorentz theory of the
electromagnetic field. This theory therefore satisfies the conditions
of the special theory of relativity, but when viewed from the latter
it acquires a novel aspect. For if K be a system of co-ordinates
relatively to which the Lorentzian ether is at rest, the