That we have to do in these observations with the speed of the light-front only, and not of the light itself, is a fact fully acknowledged by modern physical optics. Since Lord Rayleigh first discussed this matter in the eighties of the last century, physicists have learnt to distinguish between the ‘wave-velocity’ of the light itself and the velocity of an ‘impressed peculiarity’, the so-called ‘group-velocity’, and it has been acknowledged that only the latter has been, and can be, directly measured. There is no possibility of inferring from it the value of the ‘wave-velocity’ unless one has a complete knowledge of the properties of the medium through which the ‘groups’ travel. Nevertheless, the modern mind allows itself to be convinced that light possesses a finite velocity and that this has been established by actual measurement. We feel reminded here of Eddington’s comment on Newton’s famous observations: ‘Such is the glamour of a historical experiment.’ (Chapter XIV.)³