Newton thus objectivises space and, owing to the symmetrical conditions which endure in Galilean frames, assumes these latter to be at rest in space, whereas the non-Galilean ones are assumed to be accelerated or rotating. If, then, we remember that a strict correspondence exists between the centrifugal and Coriolis distribution of forces in a non-Galilean frame, and its rate of rotation as viewed from a Galilean one, we may assume that the space in which a Galilean frame is at rest is also that in which a non-Galilean frame is accelerated or rotating. There is, then, but one space, an absolute space with respect to which motion and rest have a physical significance. Galilean frames are those which are non-accelerated; non-Galilean ones are those which are accelerated or rotating in this absolute space. This was Newton’s solution, and provided we accept his postulate of isolation there appears to be no way of escaping it. Under the circumstances Newton’s law of inertia, according to which a free body follows a straight course with constant speed in relation to a Galilean frame, acquires a more determinate significance. The law now implies that this motion is being described in absolute space—in a space, therefore, that possesses a definite structure and which is thereby able to guide the body along its straight course. Had space been entirely amorphous and relative, as we assumed originally, there would have been nothing to guide the body; and even had the latter possessed enough intelligence to guide itself, there would have been nothing in amorphous space for it to direct itself by. A number of philosophers attacked the Newtonian hypothesis of absolute motion and absolute space. For instance, some of them remarked that this so-called absolute space might well be assimilated to a bubble of ether floating and rotating in a more embracing space, this other in yet another, ad infinitum; so that Newton’s absolute rotation [Pg 110] would be meaningless. Needless to say, arguments of this sort are totally irrelevant to Newton’s stand and to science generally. Classical science, by absolute space, meant one with respect to which motion, or at any rate accelerated motion and rotation, appeared to manifest themselves dynamically; and experiment proved conclusively that such a space existed. There was no use, and in fact no sense, in wondering whether this absolute space should be conceived of as rotating in some other space; for even if a hypothesis of this sort were ever to be vindicated, the fact remained that rotation appeared to be absolute in a certain space regardless of whether or not this space was the super-space par excellence. This was all that was meant by the absoluteness of rotation so far as science was concerned. In short, as scientists clearly recognised, there was only one way to refute Newton’s absolute space and motion, and that was to deny his postulate of isolation. Such, indeed, was the course adopted by Mach.