measure of the velocity of light in terms of the dimensions of the earth's orbit, the determination of aberration being susceptible of considerably greater accuracy than the corresponding measurements required for Roemer's method.
211. One difficulty in the theory of aberration deserves mention. Bradley's own explanation, quoted above, refers to light as a material substance shot out from the star or other luminous body. This was in accordance with the corpuscular theory of light, which was supported by the great weight of Newton's authority and was commonly accepted in the 18th century. Modern physicists, however, have entirely abandoned the corpuscular theory, and regard light as a particular form of wave-motion transmitted through ether. From this point of view Bradley's explanation and the physical illustrations given are far less convincing; the question becomes in fact one of considerable difficulty, and the most careful and elaborate of modern investigations cannot be said to be altogether satisfactory. The curious inference may be drawn that, if the more correct modern notions of the nature of light had prevailed in Bradley's time, it must have been very much more difficult, if not impracticable, for him to have thought of his explanation of the stellar motions which he was studying; and thus an erroneous theory led to a most important discovery.
212. Bradley had of course not forgotten the original object of his investigation. He satisfied himself, however, that the agreement between the observed positions of γ Draconis and those which resulted from aberration was so close that any displacement of a star due to parallax which might exist must certainly be less than 2", and probably not more than 12", so that the large parallax amounting to nearly 30", which Hooke claimed to have detected, must certainly be rejected as erroneous.
From the point of view of the Coppernican controversy, however Bradley's discovery was almost as good as the discovery of a parallax; since if the earth were at rest no explanation of the least plausibility could be given of aberration.
213. The close agreement thus obtained between theory and observation would have satisfied an astronomer less
