  We use the intercept of the elliptical galaxy radius--surface brightness (SB)
relation at a fixed metric radius as the standard condition for the Tolman SB
test of the universal expansion. We use surface photometry in the optical and
near-IR of elliptical galaxies in Abell~2390 ($z=0.23$) and Abell~851
($z=0.41$), and compare them to the Coma cluster at $z\approx 0$. The
photometric data for each cluster are well-described by the Kormendy relation
$r_e \propto \Sigma_e^{A}$, where $A=-0.9$ in the optical and $A=-1.0$ in the
near-IR. The scatter about this near-IR relation is only $0.076$ in $\log r_e$
at the highest redshift, which is much smaller than at low redshifts,
suggesting a remarkable homogeneity of the cluster elliptical population at
$z=0.41$. We use the intercept of these fixed-slope correlations at $R_e =
1$~kpc (assuming $H_0=75$~km~s$^{-1}$~Mpc$^{-1}$, $\Omega_0=0.2$, and
$\Lambda_0=0$, where the results are only weakly dependent on the cosmology) to
construct the Tolman SB test for these three clusters. The data are fully
consistent with universal expansion if we assume simple models of passive
evolution for elliptical galaxies, but are inconsistent with a non-expanding
geometry (the tired light cosmology) at the $5 \, \sigma$ confidence level at
$z=0.41$. These results suggest luminosity evolution in the restframe $K$-band
of $0.36 \pm 0.14$~mag from $z = 0.41$ to the present, and are consistent with
the ellipticals having formed at high redshift. The SB intercept in elliptical
galaxy correlations is thus a powerful tool for investigating models of their
evolution for significant lookback times.
