SIDELIGHTS ON RELATIVITY

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Maxwell-Lorentz equations are valid primarily with reference to K.
But by the special theory of relativity the same equations without
any change of meaning also hold in relation to any new system of
co-ordinates K' which is moving in uniform translation relatively
to K. Now comes the anxious question:--Why must I in the theory
distinguish the K system above all K' systems, which are physically
equivalent to it in all respects, by assuming that the ether
is at rest relatively to the K system? For the theoretician such
an asymmetry in the theoretical structure, with no corresponding
asymmetry in the system of experience, is intolerable. If we assume
the ether to be at rest relatively to K, but in motion relatively
to K', the physical equivalence of K and K' seems to me from the
logical standpoint, not indeed downright incorrect, but nevertheless
inacceptable.

The next position which it was possible to take up in face of this
state of things appeared to be the following. The ether does not