Water-filled telescopes and the pre-history of Fresnel's ether dragging (Q1571042)

This is an extremely deep, well founded and thorough study of the problem stated in the title. Describing the work of scientists, the author gives their contributions to the theory and the applications of the: undulatory or corpuscular structure of light, ether existence, and other properties of light phenomena. Considering the aberration, of visible rays, coming to us from the stars, the velocity, two different laws of refraction propagation through media of unequal densities, real and thought experiments, we become gradually familiar with the development of this branch of science through centuries. It is impossible to review the whole, very interesting and instructive, contents shortly. So for a better and clearer information let us cite only the titles of the chapters of this paper: 1.~Introduction. 2.~Aberration and refraction. 3.~Thomas Melvill and the velocity of light. 4.~Patrick Wilson and the water-filled telescope. 5.~John Robison and optics of moving bodies. 6.~Controversies: Bošković, Wilson and Robison. 7.~Young and Arago: The wave theory of light. 8.~Augustin Fresnel's interest in stellar aberration. 9.~Fresnel's ether dragging theory. 10.~Fresnel and water-filled telescopes. 11.~Conclusion. Bibliography. The author had to be praised for his diligency, patience and enormous effort to find the corresponding papers, letters, books and records, to select the most interesting spaces, and to cite them in this paper. Namely, the Bibliography includes 78 titles, with author names, and a collective work. The oldest one was printed in 1731, and the latest in the year 1996!! This work should serve as an example to other scientists, who wish to illustrate, and follow, a problem development, through the ages.