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We were led to that conflict by the considerations of Section VI,

which are now no longer tenable. In that section we concluded

that the man in the carriage, who traverses the distance w per

second relative to the carriage, traverses the same distance also

with respect to the embankment in each second of time. But,

according to the foregoing considerations, the time required by a

particular occurrence with respect to the carriage must not be

considered equal to the duration of the same occurrence as judged

from the embankment (as reference-body). Hence it cannot be

contended that the man in walking travels the distance w relative

to the railway line in a time which is equal to one second as

judged from the embankment.

Moreover, the considerations of Section VI are based on yet a

second assumption, which, in the light of a strict consideration,

appears to be arbitrary, although it was always tacitly made even

before the introduction of the theory of relativity.

X.