CONTENTS OF VOL. XXVII,
(THIItD SERIES.)
NUMBER CLXXVII.—JULY, 1845.
Page
Prof. Faraday on the Magnetic Relations and Characters of the
Metals .......................................... 1
Dr. J. Stenhouse on the Products of the Distillation of Benzoate of Copper.................................... 3
Mr. G. G. Stokes on the Aberration of Light.............. 9
Mr. W. De la Rue on the Structure of Electro-precipitated
Metals (with a Plate) .............................. 15
Dr. A. W. Hofmann on the true Composition of Chlorindatmit iO Mr. T. Richardson’s Analyses of Farm-Yard Manure, and of
Coal-Gas ........................................ 23
Mr. R. Hunt’s Contributions to Actino-Chemistry.......... 25
Experiments on the Electric Discharge of*the Jar. (Extract of
a letter from M. Matteucci to M. Arago.) .............. 35
Mr. A C'iijlvy ui\ Algebraical l/ouplo ........ .... 38
Mr. E. J. Lvw l on a Ph&iiuiueaon in which the* distant objects were seen inverted ........................... 41.
Mr. E. J. Lowe on a Magnificent Meteor seen in Nottinghamshire ............................................ 41
The Rev. B. Bronwin's Reduction of the Four Forms of u) in Jacobi’s General Transformation of an Elliptic Function to
one form only .............:...................... 4*2
Mr. R. Moon on Fresnel’s Theory of Diffraction .......... 46
Proceedings of the Royal Society........................ 52
-Cambridge Philosophical Society........ 56
-Royal Astronomical Society............ 60
Meteorological .Observations for May 1845...... ......... 71)
Meteorological Observations made by Mr. Thompson at the Garden of the Horticultural Society at Chiswick, near London; by Mr. Veall at Boston; by the Rev. W. Dunbar at Applegarth Manse, Dumfries-shire ; and by the Rev. C. Clouston at Sandwick Manse, Orkney.................. 80
NUMBER CLXXVIII.—AUGUST.
Prof. W. A. Miller’s Experiments and Observations on some Cases of Lines in the Prismatic Spectrum produced by the passage of Light through Coloured-Vapours and Gases, and from certain Coloured Flames. (With two coloured Plates.) 81
a 2
III. On the Aberration of Light. By G. G. Stokes, M.A., Fellow of Pembroke College, Cambridge *.
THE general explanation of the phaenomenon of aberration is so simple, and the coincidence of the value of the velocity of light thence deduced with that derived from observations of eclipses of Jupiter’s satellites so remarkable, as to leave no doubt on the mind as to the truth of that explanation. But when we examine the cause of the phenomenon more closely, it is far from being so simple as it appears at first sight. On the theory of emissions, indeed, there is little difficulty; and it would seem that the more particular explanation of the cause of aberration usually given, which depends on the consideration of the motion of a telescope as light passes from its object-glass to its cross wires, has reference especially to this theory; for it does not apply to the theory of undulations, unless we make the rather startling hypothesis, that the luminiferous aether passes freely through the sides of the telescope and through the earth itself. The undulatory theory of light, however, explains so simply and so beautifully the most complicated phenomena, that we are naturally led to rega. I aberration as a phaenomenon unexplained by it, but not incompatible with it.
The object of the present communication is to attempt an explanation of the cause of aberration which shall be in accordance with the theory of undulations. I shall suppose that the earth and planets carry a portion of the aether along with them so that the aether close to their surfaces is at rest relatively io those surfaces, while its velocity alters as we recede * Communicated by the Author.