Page:Relativity (1931).djvu/77

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GENERAL RESULTS OF THEORY
57

interpretation of electromagnetic action at a distance resulted in physicists becoming convinced that there are no such things as instantaneous actions at a distance (not involving an intermediary medium) of the type of Newton’s law of gravitation. According to the theory of relativity, action at a distance with the velocity of light always takes the place of instantaneous action at a distance or of action at a distance with an infinite velocity of transmission. This is connected with the fact that the velocity plays a fundamental rôle in this theory. In Part II we shall see in what way this result becomes modified in the general theory of relativity.