Strona 166 z 212

In order to escape this dilemma, Seeliger suggested a

modification of Newton's law, in which he assumes that for great

distances the force of attraction between two masses diminishes

more rapidly than would result from the inverse square law. In

this way it is possible for the mean density of matter to be

constant everywhere, even to infinity, without infinitely large

gravitational fields being produced. We thus free ourselves from

the distasteful conception that the material universe ought to

possess something of the nature of a centre. Of course we

purchase our emancipation from the fundamental difficulties

mentioned, at the cost of a modification and complication of

Newton's law which has neither empirical nor theoretical

foundation.