This Google web interface places limits on my posting so I guess I
will have to put in my last word on this, assuming I can still get
this posted. "John" may be rsponsible for my posting problems. My
response is as follows:

Cecil is referring to the (abstract) ether of the general
theory...Please understand that Einstein was saying that space itself
is an "ether" IF you consider space to be the primary force acted upon
by gravitation because space then "controls" phenomemon of light
propagation. Space is "manipulating" the light path in accordance with
gravitational forces present; it acts like a medium, like an "ether".
It is like Cecil and "John" are reading a parable in the Bible and
they are reading the story literally without looking for the essence
of the story. He was not speaking about an ether as a physical entity
that really exists in material form in a motionless, non-relativistic
setting that most of us find ourselves in (we are not photons). It is
an abstraction for us. Do abstractions exist? Yes. As physical
entities? No. Can you physically measure an infinitely large number of
infinitely small rectangle under a curve? No. Can you compute the area
under the curve by use of calculus which uses that principle? Yes. The
Einsteinian ether you are referring to is as much an abstraction in
our non-relativistic existence as the Newtonian infinitely small
rectangles of a calculus integral, i.e. an abstraction.