The problem is one of the greatest delicacy, but a former
officer of the Case School, one of the most eminent of living
physicists, devised a method of solving it. The extraordinary result was
reached that no breeze was perceptible. This result appeared to be so
improbable that it has been tested again and again, but every time, the
more delicate the instrument employed, the more certainly is the law
established. If we could determine our motion with reference to the
ether, we should have a fixed line of reference to which all other
motions could be referred. This would give us a line of ever-increasing
length from which to measure stellar distances.
Still another method depends on the motion of the sun in space. There is
some evidence that this motion is not straight, but along a curved line.
We see the stars, not as they are now, but as they were when the light
left them. In the case of the distant stars this may have occurred
centuries ago. Accordingly, if we measure the motion of the sun from
them, and from near stars, a comparison with its actual motion will
give us a clue to their distances.
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