88 Can Science Explain Life? 



main concentric with the source. The special 

 principle of relativity therefore requires some- 

 thing more than the Michelson-Morley experiment 

 for the establishment of its validity. Efforts have 

 been made to prove this principle by experiments 

 upon light radiation from a rapidly moving 

 stream of canal rays and from the approaching 

 and receding limbs of the sun's corona. It has 

 been contended that since such radiation exhibits 

 the Doppler effect it cannot partake of the motion 

 of the source in the manner suggested, but it does 

 not appear that such a conclusion necessarily fol- 

 lows because the Doppler effect will be exhibited 

 whenever there is relative movement between the 

 source of light and the observer. Efforts have 

 also been made to prove the special principle of 

 relativity by observations upon double stars, but 

 the very fact that the distant realms of the universe 

 have to be searched in order to find evidence for 

 the support of this principle should render us 

 cautious. It does not appear that there is a 

 single experimental fact in support of the spe- 

 cial principle of relativity which cannot be ex- 

 plained more readily in other ways, and since this 

 principle is in itself incomprehensible to the 

 human mind and leads to all sorts of paradoxical 

 conclusions it is difficult to see any justification 

 for its acceptance. 



