For waves in a birefringent (doubly-refractive) crystal, under the old definition, one must also specify whether the direction of propagation means the ray direction (Poynting vector) or the wave- normal direction, because these directions generally differ and are both perpendicular to the magnetic vector (Fig. 1). Malus, as an adherent of the corpuscular theory of light, could only choose the ray direction. But Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in his successful effort to explain double refraction under the wave theory (1822 onward), found it more useful to choose the wave-normal direction, with the result that the supposed vibrations of the medium were then consistently perpendicular to the plane of polarization. In an isotropic medium such as air, the ray and wave-normal directions are the same, and Fresnel's modification makes no difference.