[123] Also called Lagrangian Function.
[124] This deification of the principle of action which is traceable to the influence of Hilbert and Weyl is resisted by Eddington and Silberstein, who point out that the principle has none but a formal significance.
[125] We are endeavouring to explain the problem in as elementary a way as possible. A rigorous exposition, however, would compel us to state that only a certain part of
constitutes the function of action. At all events, inasmuch as the superfluous part of
disappears when we calculate the stationary condition, no essential change need be made in our exposition.
[126] “Space, Time and Matter.”
[127] We cannot insist on numerous niceties such as the distinction between tensors and tensor-densities, etc. We may note, however, that whereas the in-magnitudes
