Editorial note — Chapter III · SCIENCE

NOTE.—The reader may be interested to find that Einstein has brought out some of Boutroux’s points very emphatically, and has confirmed the view of geometry held by Poincaré. Compare the following statements: Boutroux: “Mathematics cannot be applied with exactness to reality.” “Mathematics and experience can never be exactly fitted into each other.” Poincaré: “Formulæ are not true, they are convenient.” Einstein: “If we deny the relation between the body of axiomatic Euclidean geometry or the practically rigid body of reality, we readily arrive at the view entertained by that acute and profound thinker, H. Poincaré . . . Sub specie æterni, Poincaré, in my opinion, is right” (Sidelights on Relativity, pp. 33-35).