With this definition before us we are now able to state the first characteristic postulate of relativity:
Postulate M, The unaccelerated motion of a system of reference S cannot be detected by observations made on S alone, the units of measurement being those belonging to S.
The postulate, as stated, is a direct generalization from experiment. None of the actually existing experimental evidence is opposed to it. The conviction that future evidence will continue to corroborate it is so strong that objection has seldom or never been offered to this postulate by either the friends or the foes of relativity. No means at present known will enable the observer to detect absolute motion or motion through any sort of medium which may be assumed to pervade space. Furthermore, in every case where the heretofore accepted theory has predicted the possibility of detecting such motion and where sufficiently exact observations have been made, it has turned out that no such motion was detected. Moreover, one at least[1] of these contradictions of theory has been outstanding for a period of twenty-five years and no satisfactory explanation has been offered unless one is willing to accept the law stated in postulate M above. It would appear, therefore, that in the present state of knowledge, the experimental evidence for the postulate should be considered of strong character.
One additional remark should be made here. The direct experimental evidence which led to the formulation of postulate M was undertaken on account of predictions made on the basis of a theory of the ether as the vehicle of light and electricity. But the result which has been obtained is of a purely experimental character and does not in any way depend on a theory of the ether. In other words, the law stated in postulate M is in no way dependent either on the existence or the non-existence of the ether. It is important to keep this in mind on account of the confusion of thought which has arisen in some quarters as to the relation between the theory of relativity and the theory of the ether. The postulate is simply a generalization of experimental fact; and, unless an experiment can be devised to show that this generalization is not legitimate, it is natural and in accordance with the usual procedure in physics to accept it as a "law of nature." Theory, then, must be made to agree with it and not it with theory.
§ 3. The Second Characteristic Postulate. — The so-called second postulate of relativity, in the form in which it has frequently been stated,[2] involves two entirely distinct parts. To the present writer it appears
