Page:Über die Konstitution des Elektrons.djvu/8

The measurement of the electric and magnetic fields gave:

E = 315 · 10¹⁰ El. Magn. Units (at a potential difference of 2500 volt),

M = 557

Thus it is:

E/Mc = 0,1884

On the other hand, the calculation by means of the curve constants, gives according to (9) and (11):

		Diff. (curve-apparatus-constant)
according to Abraham:	AB=0,1817	-3,5 percent
according to Lorentz:	C=0,1689	-10,4 percent
according to Bucherer:	AB=0,1831	-2,8 percent

The differences simultaneously represent the deviation between the $\beta$-values derived from the curve constants and the apparatus constants for any curve point.

The values for ${\tfrac {\epsilon }{\mu _{0}}}$ are:

a) Cathode rays:^[1] 1,885 · 10⁷

b) β-rays:

		Diff. (β-cathode rays)
according to Abraham:	1,858; 1,788; 1,823	-3,3 percent
according to Lorentz:	1,751; 1,569; 1,660	-11,9 percent
according to Bucherer:	1,833; 1,780; 1808	-4,0 percent

The preceding results decidedly speak against the validity of the fundamental assumption of Lorentz and therefore also of Einstein. If one consequently considers this fundamental assumption as disproved, then the attempt to establish the whole of physics (including electrodynamics and optics) upon the principle of relative motion, has to be denoted as failed for the time being.

A decision between the theories of Abraham and Bucherer is impossible for the time being, and seems to be unreachable at all by observations of the kind previously described, due to the far-reaching numeric agreement of the values of $\phi (\beta )$. Whether Bucherer's formula accomplishes the same for the optics of moving bodies in terms of possible observations, as that of Lorentz, has still to be investigated.

1. S. Simon, Ann. d. Phys. (3) 69, 589, 1899. The value stated there of ${\frac {1}{\mu }}=1,865\cdot 10^{7}$, extrapolated to $\infty$-small velocities, gives the previous number.