Matter, A Mode of Motion

HE following quotation states a conclusion which is widely held: "But in view of the more recent development of electrodynamics and optics it became more and more evident that classical mechanics affords an insufficient foundation for the physical description of all natural phenomena." 1 This implies that classical mechanics and classical electromagnetics are so alike that one may be condemned for the shortcomings of the other. Actually, classical electromagnetics is in open disagreement with classical mechanics particularly with respect to those features for which it has been most criticized. According to the mechanical principle of relativity, 2 the equations of any mechanical system are invariant under the Newtonian transformation, x- = x' + Vt',y = y',z = z', t = /', where V is a constant velocity in the x direction. Since the classical electromagnetic equations are not invariant under this transformation, they cannot describe the performance of any classical mechanical system. Their failures, therefore, should not stand in the way of a study of the possibilities of such systems. The system considered here is the so-called rotational ether, suggested 1 2