This is a quote from a letter written by Michael Faraday to Richard Philips on April 15, 1846 (bold letters were added by me)
*"The view which I am so bold to put forth considers, therefore, radiation as a kind of species of vibration in the lines of force which are known to connect particles and also masses of matter together. It endeavors to dismiss the aether, but not the vibration. The kind of vibration which, I believe, can alone account for the wonderful, varied, and beautiful phaenomena of polarization, is not the same as that which occurs on the surface of disturbed water, or the waves of sound in gases or liquids, for the vibrations in these cases are direct, or to and from the centre of action, whereas the former are lateral. It seems to me, that the resultant of two or more lines of force is in an apt condition for that action which may be considered as equivalent to a lateral vibration; whereas a uniform medium, like the aether, does not appear apt, or more apt than air or water."* The idea of an aether which exists independently of matter and fills the vacuum is what the Michelson-Morely experiment was designed to detect. However, if I am reading Faraday correctly he is saying that the transmission of light depends on the source and the receiver being linked together by "lines of force". Unlike the hypothesized aether, Faraday's lines of force have _no_ existence independent of charged particles. While the MM apparatus is being built the lines of force would be constantly morphing but once the apparatus was complete they would quickly settle down into static lines. When the experiment begins the lines of force between the mirrors can be likened to straight fibre optic cables between the mirrors. At this stage since the lines of force would be moving in tandem with the entire apparatus Faraday's qualitative theory predicts the observed null result of the Michelson-Morely experiment. Harry Harry
