Henri Poincaré

“ Thus if one is able to show, that matter carries mass like a foreign jewelry, that this mass (always considered as constant) can also suffer variations: then one surely has the right to say that there is no matter. ”

“ Consequently, these negative electrons have no actual mass; if they still appear to be equipped with inertia, then this due to the fact that their velocity cannot be changed without a simultaneous disturbance of the luminiferous aether. Their apparent inertia is only borrowed, it doesn't belong to them, but to the aether. Yet, matter doesn't entirely consists of negative electrons; one can rather assume that there also exists real matter which possesses a certain inertia. ”

“ According to Langevin, matter is liquefied aether that has changed its properties; when matter is moving, then it is not the liquefied mass that travels in the aether, but the liquefaction still affects new parts of the aether ”

“ One of the most surprising discoveries made by the physicists in recent years, amounts in the claim that matter doesn't exist. We simultaneously add, that this discovery is not definitely established. ”

“ On one hand such measurement have taught us that their velocity is enormously great, by achieving approximately a tenth or a third of the speed of light, and thus being a thousand times greater than the velocity of the planets; on the other hand they have taught us that their charge with respect to their mass is considerable. Any moving corpuscle thus represents an electric current. Now, it's known that electric currents show a special kind of inertia, which is denoted as self-induction. Once created, a current has the endeavor to conserve itself ”