It may not be out of place to add an extract from an article published in the Philosophical Magazine by Stokes in 1846.
"All these results would follow immediately from the theory of aberration which I proposed in the July number of this magazine: nor have I been able to obtain any result admitting of being compared with experiment, which would be different according to which theory we adopted. This affords a curious instance of two totally different theories running parallel to each other in the explanation of phenomena. I do not suppose that many would be disposed to maintain Fresnel's theory, when it is shown that it may be dispensed with, inasmuch as we would not be disposed to believe, without good evidence, that the ether moved quite freely through the solid mass of the earth. Still it would have been satisfactory, if it had been possible to have put the two theories to the test of some decisive experiment."
In conclusion, I take this opportunity to thank Mr. A. Graham Bell, who has provided the means for carrying out this work, and Professor Vogel, the Director of the Astrophysicalisches Observatorium, for his courtesy in placing the resources of his laboratory at my disposal.
