Maxwell is more
concerned in discovering whether it is possible to give an explanation
of electrical and magnetic phenomena which shall be founded on the
mechanical properties of a single medium, than in stating this
explanation in precise terms. He is aware that if we could succeed in
constructing such an interpretation, it would be easy to propose an
infinity of others, entirely equivalent from the point of view of the
experimentally verifiable consequences; and his especial ambition is
therefore to extract from the premises a general view, and to place in
evidence something which would remain the common property of all the
theories.
He succeeded in showing that if the electrostatic energy of an
electromagnetic field be considered to represent potential energy, and
its electrodynamic the kinetic energy, it becomes possible to satisfy
both the principle of least action and that of the conservation of
energy; from that moment--if we eliminate a few difficulties which
exist regarding the stability of the solutions--the possibility of
finding mechanical explanations of electromagnetic phenomena must be
considered as demonstrated.
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