BATING A THEORY 29 



is nothing like a 'cell-theory,' even in a deeper mean- 

 ing of the word." 



Relativity teachings, Minkowski's, Lorentz's, and 

 particularly Einstein's (1905 and 1915) are receiving 

 much attention. Some years ago, Dr. Ames of Johns 

 Hopkins University, in speaking about Einstein's 

 theory pointed out that "Einstein's hypotheses are 

 not suggested directly by our sense-experiences, but 

 are statements which seem reasonable; but their sole 

 justification, from a physical sense, will rest in their 

 deductions being in accord with observations."^ 



Recent observations, it seems, have confirmed the 

 Einstein theory. Some affirm that the theory has 

 been wholly established; others contend that its 

 verification is not complete; while a criticism by 

 Charles Lane Poor in essence amounted to saying 

 that the theory (so far as the interpretation of the 

 movements of the planets is concerned) was neither 

 complete nor necessary. 



(As is well known, the triple support of the theory 

 has to do with [a] the displacement of the spectral 

 lines of the sun — a deduction from theory which it 

 was first thought had not been verified; [b] the bend- 

 ing of a ray of light passing through the gravitational 

 field of the sun; and [c] the accounting for the motions 

 of the planet Mercury.) 



* The Constitution of Matter, 236. 



