The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1921-09-03
FORGET 1T
Einstein Theory of Value to
Scientific World.
But Not Important to Genus
Homo, Says TOpekan.
FORMULA is EXPLAINED
Is Merely Speculative Natural
Philosophy, Claim.
Mr.. Average Man Will Still Run
to Catch Last Car.
BY e. w. SCOTT.

Medical science tells US that the hu
man body reacts in a multitude of
ways to the same food, depending
upon the physical condition OF that
body, and that what is food for one is
sometimes poison for another. Mem
talities are of the same order, and it
is sad 20 note mental indigestion and
iaundfced opinion which have re-
suited from an. overdiet of Einstein-
ism.
1t is not my desire to attempt to de-
tract in any measure from the world
wide Importance and value OF the
relatively theory to the scientific
world, but in its present form, with
its fourth dimensional postulate, it
were better for the average person to
forget it.
StnI there is no harm in explaining
those excerpts from Prof. Einstein's
letter TO Attorney Lepper which were
quoted in The State Journal of August
81 I do not know whether Prof. Elm
STEMS letter was written In English
or in German Gas translation from the
latter might have garbled it,, but in
view of a statement by him sometime
ago. it is hard to reconcile the CON
flict" between his and Newton's
theory, for the relatively embraces the
Newtonian gravit2tional theory, simply
placing the field of gravity in a diff
ferent place than supposed by Newton
and in addition giving 1t greater
power. OF course, If the entire New
tonian theory is meant, there is the
law of bodies at rest and in motion
which RELATIVELY claims incapable of
proof as well as the Newtonian
nature-of-light postulate which was
discredited by the experiments OF
Foucault long time ago.
Einstein's Theory Tested.
The paragraph relating to refraction
| effects evidently concerns the British
total solar eclipse expedition of sew
eral years ago which was conducted
for the purpose of testing the Einstein
gravitational theory. Newton had
| stated that a ray of light in passing
/ thru a gravitational field would be
/ bent from the course in accordance
with his law which gave gravity q
| power proportional to the masses OF
/ the objects and inversely proper
| tional to the squares of the dis
| lance between them. For star
rays passing close to the sun Newton
| claimed a deviation of rs of a sec
ond of angular distance. Einstein
| claimed the light ray would be devil
ated, according to his formula, LIS
seconds of angular distance.
! The only way to test his theory was
during a total eclipse when the star
field in which the sun was centered
| could be photographed. This was
done on May 29, 1917 at two widely
| divergent stations, Sobral, Brazil, and
1 the Island of Principe, off the Afri-
| can west coast. a few months later,
/ the same field was again photograph
/ ed when the sun was no longer there.
| The two sets of photographs were
| compared and the most accurate
| measurements were made. The Bra
\ lillian station found result of 1.SS
| seconds and the other station 1.62 with
an average of $50. Einstein's predic-
| ton was LIS and the results obtained
/ were close enough to admit the sound
ness of his formula His reference
to "a gaseous atmosphere" simply
means that under the Newtonian pos
tulate, such great refraction or bend
ing of the light ray could only be
| accounted for by an atmosphere OF ex-
, IRENE density which we know does not
exist.
The Shifting Perihelion.
Most of US will recall learning in
our school days that, in its yearly jour
ney about the sun, our earth is closer
to the sun at one time in its course
than at another. The point of closest
approach is known as the perihelion
| (peri, near; helius, sun) and all the
planets share alike in having a peri
| helion. Under certain conditions TINS
perihilion should always be the same,
but gravity will not have it so. There
! is a. tendency on the part OF the m
dividual planet to leave its course ana
take up a new one with a resultant
shifting of the perihelion. In the case
of Mercury, the gravitational attrac-
ton of the entire solar system, under
Newtons law, should cause the peri
helion of the planet to shift itself 5SZ
seconds of arc in a century. But oo-
servation shows that the perlhellon
shifts 574 seconds of arc! What OF
the other AZ seconds?
Einstetn, instead of using Newton S
formula, produces his own, which
says briefly that gravitational attrac-
ton is equivalent to three times the
square OF the ratio of the velocity OF
the object to the velocity OF light
Il CS6,000 miles per second)- rms
formula gives a result of SIS SECONDS
of arc which is close enough to prove
his theory Einstein says this peri
helion movement of Mercury is the
only one which has been tested. That
is because the orbits of. the earth ana
Venus are nearly circles and the ele-
ment of divergence is so small as to be
very nearly negligible.
Spectrum Lines Explained.
In the next to the last paragraph
occur references to the Doppler eff
feet and the displacement of spectral
lines. In the first place the spectrum
Is simply rainbow effect with the
colors running from right to left in
stead OF from top to bottom. There
are three varieties of spectra-radia-
ton. emission and absorption 1t IS
with the second and third we have to
deal.
If the spectrum is looked at thru a
strong magnifying glass if will be seen
that it IS crossed from top to bottom
! with bright lines in the emission type
and with dark lines in the absorption