Nonrelativistic explanations for the advance of Mercury's perihelion are described, and the point made that Einstein's theory is favored over these because of his theory's intellectual appeal. Consideration is given to the possibility that the perihelion advance could be explained by hypothesizing a charge on the Sun which induces a dipole on Mercury and thereby causes a departure, from inverse square, of the total force between the Sun and Mercury. It is shown that such a hypothesis runs into serious difficulties. The results of the calculations are thought to be illustrative of the difficulties which are encountered by an attempt to account for the advance by postulating heretofore unsuspected interactions between Mercury and other bodies.