Subject: Michelson-Morley experiment data incongruence

I was trying to figure out what the smallest amount of fringe shift that could 
clearly be resolved was in the MMX only to be baffled by the incongruence 
between the data given by the experimenters' published results and their 
conclusions. A copy of the publication can be found at 

http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_the_Relative_Motion_of_the_Earth_and_the_Lumin
iferous_Ether 

In the paragraph just above the table, it explains that the readings are of 
divisions on a screw.  Each division represents 0.02 wave-lengths. So the 
total distance between fringes is about 50 divisions. 

Now, then, looking at the first column of data in the first table, 
labeled "16.", the mean shift is 43.1.  The mean shift in wave-lengths given 
in the row just beneath is 0.862. Averaging this with its counterpart on the 
opposite side of the machine at "8." (0.706), the final mean in wave-lengths 
is 0.784.  

Now, then, Michelson said an ether wind of 30km/s should produce a fringe 
shift of 0.4 wave-lengths.  His data is almost twice that amount, so why does 
he say, "It seems fair to conclude from the figure that if there is any 
displacement due to the relative motion of the earth and the luminiferous 
ether, this cannot be much greater than 0.01 of the distance between the 
fringes."


Thank You

Re: Michelson-Morley experiment data incongruence