Abstract
I AM obliged to Mr. Harold Jeffreys for his friendly criticism (NATURE, April 11, p. 103), but my suggestion was not one of a resisting medium pure and simple, but of a resistance greater at perihelion than aphelion, and therefore synchronous with the planet's orbital period. Mr. Jeffreys will surely admit that a periodic disturbance of this kind, acting parallel to the minor axis of the orbit, would certainly affect the longitude of perihelion, without affecting the eccentricity; though whether the amount of resistance to be expected, say from matter in the Zodiacal light, is sufficient to make the effect appreciable may well be doubted. Moreover, I had not thought of the resisting medium as revolving in a planetary manner. I am inclined to attribute much more importance to my other suggestion based on the electrical theory of matter (Phil. Mag. for August, 1917). Nevertheless, a periodic resistance hypothesis is peculiarly applicable to Mercury, (a) because of its nearness, (b) because of the eccentricity of its orbit.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LODGE, O. The Motion of the Perihelion of Mercury. Nature 101, 125–126 (1918). https://doi.org/10.1038/101125c0
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/101125c0
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.