________________
208 JAIN PHILOSOPIIY & MODERN SCIENCE but matter exerts no force on it, it has no mass nor has it any parts which can be identified, it is said to be at rest relatively to the 'fixed stars' yet, the stars are known to be in motion relatively to one another
A hundred years ago, the ether was regarded as one elastic body, something like a jelly but, much stiffer and lighter so that it could vibrate with extreme rapidity But a great many phenomenon culminating in the Michelson experiment and the Theory of Relativity showed that the ether must be something very different from ordinary terrestrial substances
Experimentns Concerning Ether The question arises that, why, were there so many different speculations about the ether and why so many different conclusions have been drawn? Are all these conclusions based on mere imaginations or some experimental proofs? From time to time, various experiments have been conducted to understand the nature of ether The most ingeneous and prominent of all these experiments, is the one, performed by Michelson & Morley nearly one hundred years ago, in the laboratories of Cleveland University of East Ohio
The basis of the experiment was that, all material bodies are really floating about in a limitless ocean of ether, it is quite easy to find how fast they are moving through it. The following analogy will make the point clear The time taken to row a boat a certain distance up a swift river and down again is always
