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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aether and Gravitation, by William George Hooper
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aether and Gravitation
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This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook.
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Title: Aether and Gravitation
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Author: William George Hooper
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Release date: February 22, 2008 [eBook #24667]
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK AETHER AND GRAVITATION ***
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E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Ronnie Sahlberg, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net)
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AETHER AND GRAVITATION
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AETHER
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aether and Gravitation, by William George Hooper
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AND
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GRAVITATION
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BY
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WILLIAM GEORGE HOOPER, F.S.S.
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LONDON CHAPMAN AND HALL, Ltd.
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1903
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INTRODUCTORY NOTES
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The author in this work endeavours to solve the greatest scientific problem that has puzzled scientists for the past two hundred years. The question has arisen over and over again, since the discovery of universal gravitation by Sir Isaac Newton, as to what is the physical cause of the attraction of gravitation.
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“Action at a distance” has long ceased to be recognized as a possible phenomenon, although up to the present, the medium and method of gravitational attraction have not yet been discovered.
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It is, however, generally accepted by scientists, that the only possible medium which can give rise to the phenomena incidental to, and associated with the Law of Gravitation, must be the universal aether, which forms the common medium of all phenomena associated with light, heat, electricity and magnetism.
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It is impossible, however, to reconcile gravitational phenomena with the present conception of the universal aether medium, and a new theory is therefore demanded, before the longsought-for explanation will be forthcoming.
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Professor Glazebrook definitely states the necessity for a new theory in his work on J. C. Maxwell, page 221, where he writes: “We are waiting for some one to give us a theory of the aether, which shall include the facts of electricity and magnetism, luminous radiation, and it may be gravitation.”
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A new theory of the aether is also demanded in view of the recent experimental results of Professor Lebedew, and Nichols and Hull of America. It is logically impossible to reconcile a frictionless aether, with their results relative to the pressure of light waves.
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In the following pages of this work the author has endeavoured to perfect a theory, which will bring aetherial physics more into harmony with modern observation and experiments; and by so doing, believes that he has found the key that will unlock the problem not only of the cause of universal gravitation, but also other problems of physical science. The author has taken Newton's Rules of Philosophy as his guide in the making of the new theory, as he believes that if any man knew anything of the rules of Philosophy, that man was Sir Isaac Newton. The first chapter therefore deals with the generally recognized rules which govern philosophical reasoning, the same being three in number; the fundamental rule being, that in making any hypothesis, the results of experience as obtained by observation and experiments must not be violated.
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In applying the rules to the present theory of the aether, he found that the theory as at present recognized violated two of the most important rules of Philosophy, because, while aether is supposed to be matter, yet it failed to fulfil the primary property of all matter, that is, it is not subject to the Law of Gravitation. If aether is matter, then, to be strictly logical and philosophical, it must possess the properties of matter as revealed by observation and experiment.
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Those properties are given in Chapter III., where it is shown that they are atomicity, heaviness or weight, elasticity, density, inertia, and compressibility. To be strictly logical and philosophical, the author was compelled to postulate similar properties for the aether, or else his hypotheses would contravert the results of all experience.
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The application of these properties to the aether will be found in Chapter IV., where the author has postulated atomicity, heaviness or weight, density, elasticity, inertia, and compressibility for the aether, and so brought the theory of the aether into perfect harmony with all observation and experiments relative to ordinary matter. It will be shown that Clerk Maxwell also definitely affirms the atomicity of the aether, while Tyndall and Huyghens also use the term “particles of aether” over and over again.
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Moreover, in view of the most recent researches in electricity made by Sir William Crookes and Professor J. J. Thomson, we are compelled to accept an atomic basis for electricity, and as Dr. Lodge, in his Modern Views of Electricity, states that “Aether is made up of positive and negative electricity,” then, unless we postulate atomicity for the aether, we have to suppose that it is possible for a non-atomic body (aether) to be made up of atoms or corpuscles, which conclusion is absurd, and therefore must be rejected as illogical and unphilosophical.
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After postulating atomicity for the aether, we are then able to apply the Newtonian Law of Gravitation to it, which distinctly affirms that “every particle of matter attracts every other particle,” and so we arrive at Thomas Young's fourth hypothesis given in the Philosophical Transactions of 1802, where he asserts that “All material bodies have an attraction for the aetherial medium, by means of which it is accumulated within their substance, and for a small distance around them in a state of greater density.” He adds the significant remark that
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this hypothesis is opposed to that of Newton's. With an atomic and gravitative aether it is shown in Chapter IV. how the elasticity, density, and inertia of the medium are brought into harmony with all observation and experiments.
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In the succeeding chapters the new theory is applied to the phenomena of heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, and the principles enunciated therein are then applied to solar and stellar phenomena.
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One of the greatest stumbling-blocks to the discovery of the physical cause of gravitation, apart from the unphilosophical theory of the aether medium, lies in the fact that apparently the Law of Gravitation only recognizes a force of one kind. Dr. Lodge refers to this phase of the subject on page 39 of his Modern Views of Matter just published. It is here where scientists have failed to solve the problem of universal gravitation, as there are two forces at work in the solar system and not one; that is, if we are to accept the results of up-to-date experiments in relation to radiant light and heat as performed by Professor Lebedew, and Nichols and Hull of America. Their experiments conclusively prove that light waves exert a pressure upon all bodies on which they fall, and by no reasoning can this pressure be resolved into an attractive force.
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Herschel in his Lectures on Scientific Subjects definitely refers to the existence of a repulsive force in the solar system, and asserts that it offers the most interesting prospect of any future discovery.
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The author has therefore attacked the problem of the cause of gravitation, by trying to solve the problem of the cause of the repulsive force which has been experimentally demonstrated to exist by Professor Lebedew and others.
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In his efforts to ascertain the physical cause of the Centrifugal Force, he has been assisted by an unknown and original essay written by an unknown writer over twenty years ago. That unknown writer was the author's father, who wrote an essay on the Complementary Law of Gravitation, and if it had not been for that essay, the present work would never have been attempted.
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The main object of the author in Chapters VI., VII., and VIII., is to prove beyond the possibility of contradiction, from the phenomena of heat, light, and electricity, the existence of two forces in the solar system; and by so doing, to bring our philosophy of the aether medium, and all gravitational phenomena, into harmony with all observation and experiments, which at present is not the case. In seeking to do this he found that the new theory of the aether harmonized with views given, by Faraday and Clerk Maxwell in relation to electric and magnetic phenomena, and by the new theory Maxwell's hypothesis of “Physical Lines of Force” receives a definite and physical basis. In Chapter X. the author endeavours to show what the Electro-Kinetic energy is, which term is used by Clerk Maxwell, the term being brought for the first time into harmony with our experience. The Electro-Magnetic Theory of Light also receives fresh light from the new theory of an atomic and gravitating aether.
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In the succeeding chapters the theory is applied to Newton's Laws of Motion and Kepler's Laws, and is found to harmonize with all the results given by these laws. Such a result is a distinct advance on the application of a frictionless aether to solar and stellar phenomena, as it is impossible for Kepler's Laws to be reconciled in any way with our present theory of the aether.
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In the concluding chapter on the unity of the universe, certain views are suggested as to the ultimate constitution of all matter, upon an aetherial basis, which hypothesis practically resolves itself into an electric basis for all matter. It is suggested that aether and electricity are one and the same medium, both being a form of matter, and both possessing exactly the same properties, viz. atomicity, weight, density, elasticity, inertia, and compressibility. This
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view of matter harmonizes with the most “Modern Views of Matter” as suggested by Sir Oliver Lodge in his Romanes Lecture 1903.
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The author has accepted Newton's way of spelling “aether” as given in his work on Optics, and has given “aetherial” the same suffix as “material,” in order to differentiate the word from “ethereal,” which is too metaphysical a term for a material medium.
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Nottingham,
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Sept. 1903.
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CONTENTS
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CHAPTER I
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PHILOSOPHY OF GRAVITATION
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ART. 1. GRAVITATION " 2. CAUSE OF GRAVITATION " 3. NEWTON'S RULES OF PHILOSOPHY " 4. FIRST RULE OF PHILOSOPHY " 5. SECOND RULE OF PHILOSOPHY " 6. THIRD RULE OF PHILOSOPHY " 7. APPLICATION OF RULES TO GRAVITATION " 8. ANALYSIS OF LAW OF GRAVITATION " 9. PRIMITIVE IMPULSE " 10. CENTRIPETAL FORCE " 11. CENTRIFUGAL FORCE " 12. NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION " 13. FORCE " 14. FIRST LAW OF MOTION " 15. SECOND LAW OF MOTION " 16. THIRD LAW OF MOTION " 17. SUMMARY OF CHAPTER
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PAGE 1 1 3 3 4 7 9 9
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10 12 13 15 16 16 19 20 22
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CHAPTER II
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PHILOSOPHY OF GRAVITATION--(continued)
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ART. 18. GRAVITATION ATTRACTION " 19. UNIVERSALITY OF GRAVITATION
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" 20. DIRECTION OF THE FORCES
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26
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" 21. PROPORTION OF THE FORCES
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26
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" 22. LAW OF INVERSE SQUARES
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27
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" 23. TERRESTRIAL GRAVITY
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29
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" 24. CENTRIFUGAL FORCE
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" 25. KEPLER'S LAWS
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32
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" 26. FIRST LAW OF KEPLER
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33
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" 27. SECOND LAW OF KEPLER
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36
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" 28. THIRD LAW OF KEPLER
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37
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CHAPTER III
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MATTER
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ART. 29. WHAT IS MATTER?
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40
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" 30. CONSERVATION OF MATTER
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42
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" 31. MATTER IS ATOMIC
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42
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" 32. WHAT IS AN ATOM?
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43
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" 33. THE ATOMIC THEORY
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44
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" 34. KINDS OF ATOMS
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44
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" 35. ELEMENTS OF MATTER
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47
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" 36. THREE KINDS OF MATTER
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47
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" 37. MATTER IS GRAVITATIVE
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50
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" 38. MATTER POSSESSES DENSITY
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51
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" 39. MATTER POSSESSES ELASTICITY
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51
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" 40. MATTER POSSESSES INERTIA
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52
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CHAPTER IV
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AETHER
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ART. 42. AETHER IS MATTER " 43. AETHER IS UNIVERSAL " 44. AETHER IS ATOMIC " 45. AETHER IS GRAVITATIVE " 46. AETHER POSSESSES DENSITY " 47. AETHER POSSESSES ELASTICITY " 48. AETHER POSSESSES INERTIA " 49. AETHER IS IMPRESSIBLE " 50. AETHER AND ITS MOTIONS
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CHAPTER V
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ENERGY
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ART. 51. ENERGY
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83
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" 52. CONSERVATION OF ENERGY
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84
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" 53. TRANSFORMATION OF ENERGY
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86
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" 54. POTENTIAL ENERGY
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87
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" 55. KINETIC ENERGY
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89
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" 56. ENERGY AND MOTION
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91
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" 57. CONSERVATION OF MOTION
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92
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" 58. TRANSFORMATION OF MOTION
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" 59. MOTION AND WORK
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CHAPTER VI
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HEAT, A MODE OF MOTION
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ART. 60. HEAT, A MODE OF MOTION
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98
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" 61. HEAT AND MATTER
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" 62. RADIATION AND ABSORPTION
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104
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" 63. HEAT IS A REPULSIVE MOTION
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" 64. RADIANT HEAT
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109
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" 65. DIRECTION OF A RAY OF HEAT
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" 66. LAW OF INVERSE SQUARES
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" 67. FIRST LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
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" 68. SECOND LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS
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" 69. IDENTITY OF HEAT AND LIGHT
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119
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CHAPTER VII
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LIGHT, A MODE OF MOTION
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ART. 70. LIGHT, A MODE OF MOTION " 71. TRANSVERSE VIBRATION OF LIGHT " 72. REFLECTION AND REFRACTION " 73. THE SOLAR SPECTRUM " 74. DIRECTION OF A RAY OF LIGHT " 75. INTENSITY OF LIGHT " 76. VELOCITY OF LIGHT
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" 77. DYNAMICAL VALUE OF LIGHT
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" 78. ELECTRO-MAGNETIC THEORY OF LIGHT
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155
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CHAPTER VIII
|
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AETHER AND ELECTRICITY
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ART. 79. ELECTRICITY, A MODE OF MOTION
|
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162
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" 80. ELECTRIC FIELD
|
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166
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" 81. ELECTRIC INDUCTION
|
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174
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" 82. ELECTRIC ENERGY
|
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179
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" 83. ELECTRIC RADIATION
|
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182
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" 84. LAW OF INVERSE SQUARES
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184
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" 85. SECOND LAW OF ELECTRICITY
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186
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CHAPTER IX
|
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AETHER AND MAGNETISM
|
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ART. 86. ELECTRO-MAGNETISM
|
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192
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" 87. THE EARTH A MAGNET
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195
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" 88. THE SUN AN ELECTRO-MAGNET
|
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199
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" 89. FARADAY'S LINES OF FORCE
|
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203
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" 90. TERRESTRIAL MAGNETISM
|
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206
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" 91. SOLAR MAGNETS
|
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211
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" 92. CAUSE OF ROTATION OF THE EARTH ON ITS AXIS
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219
|
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" 93. VORTEX MOTION
|
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221
|
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" 94. RELATIVE MOTION OF AETHER AND MATTER
|
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224
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"
|
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95.
|
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VIBRATIONS LIGHT
|
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|
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IN
|
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|
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THE
|
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ELECTRO-MAGNETIC
|
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|
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THEORY
|
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OF
|
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228
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CHAPTER X
|
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|
AETHER AND NEWTON'S LAWS OF MOTION
|
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|
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ART. 96. AETHER AND CENTRIFUGAL FORCE " 97. AETHER AND CENTRIPETAL FORCE " 98. AETHER AND NEWTON'S FIRST LAW OF MOTION " 99. AETHER AND NEWTON'S SECOND LAW OF MOTION
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" 100. AETHER AND NEWTON'S THIRD LAW OF MOTION
|
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251
|
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" 101. WHY PLANETS REVOLVE FROM WEST TO EAST
|
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253
|
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CHAPTER XI
|
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AETHER AND KEPLER'S LAWS
|
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ART. 102. AETHER AND KEPLER'S FIRST LAW
|
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256
|
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" 103. AETHER AND KEPLER'S SECOND LAW
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260
|
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" 104. AETHER AND KEPLER'S THIRD LAW
|
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263
|
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" 105. ORBITAL MOTION OF PLANETS
|
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266
|
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" 106. ECCENTRICITY OF THE MOON'S ORBIT
|
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268
|
|||
|
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|
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" 107. THE SUN AND KEPLER'S FIRST LAW
|
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270
|
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" 108. THE SUN AND KEPLER'S SECOND LAW
|
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274
|
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" 109. AETHER AND THE PLANE OF THE ECLIPTIC
|
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277
|
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" 110. AETHER AND THE CENTRIPETAL FORCE
|
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282
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CHAPTER XII
|
|||
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AETHER AND COMETS
|
|||
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ART. 111. WHAT IS A COMET?
|
|||
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|
|||
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291
|
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" 112. ORBITS OF COMETS
|
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293
|
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" 113. KINDS OF COMETS
|
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|||
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296
|
|||
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|||
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" 114. PARTS OF A COMET
|
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298
|
|||
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" 115. CENTRIFUGAL FORCE AND COMETS
|
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300
|
|||
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|
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" 116. FORMATION OF TAILS
|
|||
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|
|||
|
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303
|
|||
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|
|
|||
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|
CHAPTER XIII
|
|||
|
|
AETHER AND STARRY WORLD
|
|||
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|||
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ART. 117. STARRY WORLD
|
|||
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|
|||
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306
|
|||
|
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|
" 118. STARS AND KEPLER'S LAWS
|
|||
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|
|||
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|
309
|
|||
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|
|
|||
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|
" 119. AETHER AND NEBULAE
|
|||
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|
|||
|
|
313
|
|||
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" 120. WHAT IS A NEBULA?
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
314
|
|||
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|||
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|
" 121. AETHER AND NEBULAR HYPOTHESIS
|
|||
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|
|
|||
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|
317
|
|||
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|
|
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" 122. KINDS OF NEBULAE
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319
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CHAPTER XIV
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|||
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AETHER AND THE UNIVERSE
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|||
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ART. 123. THE UNIVERSE
|
|||
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|
|||
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323
|
|||
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|||
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" 124. UNITY OF THE UNIVERSE
|
|||
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|
|||
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326
|
|||
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|||
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|
" 125. CONSTITUTION OF MATTER
|
|||
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|
|
|||
|
|
334
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
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" 126. QUOD ERAT FACIENDUM
|
|||
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|||
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337
|
|||
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|||
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|
" 127. GOD AND THE UNIVERSE
|
|||
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|
|||
|
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342
|
|||
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|
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|||
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|
APPENDIX
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
349
|
|||
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|
|
|||
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|
INDEX
|
|||
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|
|
|||
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|
351
|
|||
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AETHER AND GRAVITATION
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|||
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[1]
|
|||
|
|
|
|||
|
|
CHAPTER I
|
|||
|
|
PHILOSOPHY OF GRAVITATION
|
|||
|
|
Art. 1. Gravitation.--In the realm of Science, there exists a Force or Law that pervades and influences all Nature, and from the power of which, nothing, not even an atom, is free.
|
|||
|
|
It holds together the component parts of each and every individual world, and in the world's revolving prevents both its inhabitants and its vegetation from being whirled off its surface into space. It exists in each and every central sun, and circles round each sun its associated system of planets. It rolls each satellite around its primary planet, and regulates the comet's mysterious flight into the depths of space, while the pendulation of even the remotest star is accomplished by this same force. Our own rocking world obeys the same mysterious power, that seems to grasp the entire material creation as with the grasp of the Infinite.
|
|||
|
|
It exists in, and influences every atom, whose combinations compose and constitute the entire material creation, or each and every orb that bespangle the blue infinity.
|
|||
|
|
As is readily seen, it weaves as it were around each and all, a mysterious network or chain, that binds star to star, and world to world, blending all into one entire, vast and complete unity. It decides all their orbits and distances, regulates and controls all their motions, from the most simple even to the more complex and intricate, ultimately producing that wondrous and beauteous order, unity and harmony that everywhere pervade and blend all the universe into one grand and harmonious whole.
|
|||
|
|
That Law I need hardly say is the Law of Gravitation.
|
|||
|
|
Art. 2. Cause of Gravitation.--Now the question arises, and indeed has arisen a thousand times since the discovery of this law by Sir Isaac Newton over two hundred years ago, as to what is the physical cause, the true explanation of this universal attraction.
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MacLaurin in his work on the philosophical discoveries of Sir Isaac Newton says: “In all [2] cases when bodies seem to act upon each other at a distance, and tend towards one another without any apparent cause impelling them, this force has been commonly called Attraction, and this term is frequently used by Sir Isaac Newton. But he gives repeated caution that he pretends not by the use of this term to define the nature of the power, or the manner in which it acts. Nor does he ever affirm or insinuate that a body can act upon another body at a distance, but by the intervention of other bodies.”
|
|||
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The results of modern discovery show that action at a distance, without the intervention of any medium, as for example the sun attracting the earth, is not the universal condition which governs all so-called forces.
|
|||
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It is now recognized that light and heat are both forms of energy, and therefore forces, using the term in the same sense that it is applied to Gravitation.
|
|||
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|||
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Both light and heat are transmitted through space with finite velocity through the intervention of a medium, the universal Aether. It is therefore only reasonable to suppose, that if one or more particular kinds of energy, or forces, require a medium for their transmission, why not another force, as for example Gravitation?
|
|||
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|||
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Gravitation is an universal force which operates throughout the length and breadth of the entire universe, and if there be a medium which is to Gravitation, what the Aether is to light and heat, the question at once confronts us, as to what are the characteristics, properties, and qualities of that universal medium, which is to form the physical basis of this universal attraction?
|
|||
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|||
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Newton himself suggested that Gravitation was due to an aetherial subtle medium, which filled all space.
|
|||
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|||
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In his well-known letter to Bentley, Newton writes as follows: “That Gravity should be innate, inherent, and essential to matter, so that one body can act upon another body at a distance through a vacuum, without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and force may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity, that I believe no man who has any philosophical nature or competent faculty of thinking can ever fall into it.”
|
|||
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|||
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We also know from his Queries in his book on Optics, that he sought for the explanation of Gravitation in the properties of a subtle, aetherial medium diffused over the universe.
|
|||
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MacLaurin on this point says: “It appears from his letters to Boyle, that this was his opinion early, and if he did not publish his opinion sooner, it proceeded from hence only, that he found he was not able from experiment and observation to give a satisfactory account of [3] this medium, and the manner of its operations in producing the chief phenomena of Nature.”
|
|||
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|||
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Therefore, if we accept Newton's suggestion, and endeavour to trace the physical cause of Gravitation in the qualities, properties, and motions of this subtle aetherial medium to which he refers, we shall be simply working on the lines laid down by Sir Isaac Newton himself.
|
|||
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I wish therefore to premise, that the future pages of this work will deal with the hypothesis of this aetherial medium, by which will be accounted for, and that on a satisfactory and physical basis, the universal Law of Gravitation.
|
|||
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Art. 3. Rules of Philosophy.--In order that we may rightly understand the making of any hypothesis, I purpose giving some rules laid down by such philosophers as Newton and Herschel, so that we may be guided by right principles in the development of this new hypothesis as to the cause of Gravitation.
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The rules that govern the making of any hypotheses, so far as I can discern, may be summed up under the three following heads--
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(1) Simplicity of conception.
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(2) Agreement with experience, observation, and experiment.
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(3) Satisfactorily accounting for, and explaining all phenomena sought to be explained.
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Art. 4. 1st Rule. Simplicity of Conception.--From this rule we learn that the hypothesis must be simple in conception, and simple in its fundamental principles, and further, that the same characteristic of simplicity must mark each step of its development.
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This rule of simplicity is distinctly laid down by Sir Isaac Newton in his Principia, Book 3, under the heading “Regulae Philosophandi.”
|
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In that work he writes: “Natura simplex est, et rerum causis superfluis non luxuriat.”-“Nature is simple, and does not abound in superfluous causes of things.”
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He further states that: “Not more of the natural causes of things ought to be admitted, than those which are true and suffice to explain phenomena. In the nature of Philosophy nothing is done in vain, and by means of many things, it is done in vain when it can be done by fewer. For Nature is simple, and does not abound in superfluous causes.”
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While again in Rule 3, he adds: “Natura simplex est et sibi semper consona.”--“Nature is simple, and always agrees with itself.”
|
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Whewell also considers simplicity as a fundamental principle of all true hypotheses. On this point he writes: “All the hypotheses should tend to simplicity and harmony. The new [4] suppositions resolve themselves into the old ones, or at least only require some easy modification of the hypothesis first assumed. In false theories the contrary is the case.”
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Thus, it is the very essence of philosophy to build upon a foundation of simplicity, combined with the results of experience, observation, and experiment. For example, if we desired to form a hypothesis as to the cause of day and night, two hypotheses might be assigned as to the cause.
|
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First, that the earth revolves on its axis once a day, and so presents each part successively to the light and heat of the sun; and second, that the sun revolves round the earth once every 24 hours. But such an assumption as the latter would involve the revolution of the sun through an immense orbit at an enormous velocity, in order for the journey to be accomplished in the time. So that it is much simpler to conceive of the earth revolving on its axis once every 24 hours, than it is for the sun to perform this journey in the same period. Hence the rule of simplicity is in favour of day and night being caused by the revolving of the earth on its axis. The same rule might be illustrated in many ways; but, however illustrated, the principle, according to Newton, always holds good that all effects are produced by the simplest causes, and if there are apparently two causes to the same phenomenon, then the simpler cause is the true and correct one. So that in the making and development of any hypotheses of the physical cause of Gravitation, this rule of simplicity must always be recognized; and, in conjunction with the other rules, we must seek to make our hypotheses, so as to be able to account and explain all phenomena sought to be explained.
|
|||
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Art. 5. 2nd Rule. Experience.--Newton fully recognized the necessity of experience in Philosophy. He saw the absolute necessity of appealing to experience, observation, and experiment, both as a basis for philosophical reasoning, and further, for the data which were necessary to verify particular applications of the hypotheses suggested.
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In his Rules of Philosophy, referring to experience as a guide, he says: “Hoc est fundamentum philosophiae.”--“This is the basis of philosophy.”
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Herschel, writing on the same subject in his Natural Philosophy, writes thus with regard to experience: “We have pointed out that the great, and indeed the only ultimate source of our knowledge of nature, and its laws, is experience. By which I mean, not the experience of one man only, or of one generation, but the accumulated experience of all mankind in all ages registered in books or recorded in tradition. But experience may be acquired in two ways, either first by noticing facts as they occur without any attempt to influence the [5] frequency of their occurrence, or to vary the circumstances under which they occur. This is observation. Second, by putting in action causes and agents over which we have no control, and purposely varying their combination, and then noticing what effects take place. This is experiment. To these two sources we must look as the fountains of all natural science.”
|
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Herschel further writes: “Experience once recognized as the fountain of all our knowledge of nature, it follows, that in our study of nature and its laws, we ought at once to make up our minds to dismiss, as idle prejudices, or at least suspend as premature, all preconceived notion of what might, or ought to be the order of nature in any proposed case, and content ourselves as a plain matter of fact with what is. To experience we refer as the only ground for all physical enquiry. But before experience itself can be used to advantage, there is one preliminary step to make which depends wholly upon ourselves.”
|
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“It is the absolute dismissal and clearing the mind of all prejudices from whatever source arising, and the determination to stand or fall by the result of direct appeal to facts in the first instance, and to strict logical deduction from them afterwards.”
|
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From extracts like these, from such men as Newton and Herschel, it can at once be seen that experience, and experience alone, should be the chief fountain from whence we draw all our data to form the bases of any hypothesis or theory. If the hypothesis formed is contradicted by the result of any present or future observation or experiment, then such hypothesis will either become untenable, or must be so modified as to take in the new fact furnished by that observation and experiment.
|
|||
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It is a sine quâ non of all true philosophy, that philosophy should always agree with experience. To the extent that our Philosophy of Nature fails to agree with our experience, or with the results of observation and experiment, then to that extent it ceases to be philosophy. It may be a hypothesis or even a theory, but certainly it is not true Philosophy.
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Now, in the elaboration and development of the theory as to the physical cause of Gravitation, I can premise that nothing will be postulated or supposed, unless such supposition can be directly verified by our own observation and experiments.
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Any theory or hypotheses that are contradicted by our own experience in its widest form, will find no place in the development of this work. Further, any present accepted theory in relation to any natural phenomena, which is controverted by experiment, or observation, will be rejected as untenable in the scheme of Natural Philosophy to be submitted to the reader.
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Whatever else the theory suggested may, or may not be, one thing it certainly shall be, and [6] that is, that it shall be strictly based upon the Philosophical Rules as given by some of the greatest philosophers the world has ever seen. I do not premise that the hypotheses advanced will be strictly correct in every detail.
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That would be to assume that my experience of all natural phenomena was perfect. To the extent that our experience is limited, to that extent our hypotheses will be limited and faulty. It would need an Infinite mind to form a perfect theory of the philosophy of the universe, because only an Infinite mind possesses infinite experience. A finite mind can, however,
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form true philosophical conceptions of natural phenomena, if that mind will only follow the guidance of his own experience, and be willing to accept the teaching that always arises from the results of that experience. In order to do this, however, it must be observed, as Herschel points out, that all old prejudices must be put away, and the question or problem to be considered must be viewed with an open mind. Let me illustrate what I mean. Suppose, for example, that for two hundred years, chalk had always been thought to be a mineral, and then, owing to the development of the microscope, and to the increased magnifying powers of the lenses, it was conclusively demonstrated that chalk is made up of the shells and remains of certain organisms that lived in the sea ages ago. Would it be philosophical to throw over the results of the microscopical research, and, simply because for two hundred years chalk had been thought to be a mineral, to argue, and still retain the idea that chalk was a mineral?
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Such a result would be entirely opposed to all the teaching and principles of philosophy. In a similar way, suppose in the development of the physical cause of Gravitation, a certain conception of the universal Aether has to be put forth in order to account for Gravitation, and that that conception is opposed to some of the theories which have been held relative to the Aether medium for the past two hundred years; but that the conception so advanced is supported by the experiments and observation of some of the ablest scientists of the present century, would it be philosophical to reject the newer conception which harmonized with all experiment and observation, and still retain the old conception of the aetherial medium; or, to accept the newer conception of that medium, and to reject some of the ideas included in the old conception? From a purely philosophic standpoint, there can only be one reply, which would be in favour of the newer conception, by which our philosophy would be brought into harmony with our experience.
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This I premise will be done in this work, and the result will be, that for the first time, our [7] philosophy of the aetherial medium will agree with our experience; and, as the natural result, several outstanding problems will be explained on a physical basis, which at the present time cannot be satisfactorily explained except from the mathematical standpoint.
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Art. 6. 3rd Rule. Satisfactory explanation of the Phenomena sought to be Explained.--The third rule which governs the making of any hypothesis is, that the hypothesis formed in accordance with the first and second rules shall satisfactorily account for all the phenomena sought to be explained.
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Newton writes on this point as follows: “No more causes of natural things are to be admitted, than such as are true, and sufficient to explain the phenomena.” While again in his fourth rule he states: “In experimental philosophy, propositions collected by induction from phenomena are to be regarded as accurately true, or very nearly true, notwithstanding any contrary hypothesis, till other phenomena occur by which they are made more accurate, or are rendered subject to exceptions.” Principia, Book 3. Herschel in his Natural Philosophy points out, that one of the chief requirements of any assumed hypothesis is, that it shall be sufficient to account for the phenomena to be explained, and that it shall be suggested by analogy.
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Now the object of this work is to give a physical explanation of the cause and working of Gravitation, and to show how, by the properties, qualities and motions of the universal Aether, Universal Gravitation may be accounted for on a physical basis. So that every phenomenon, associated with, or included in the Law of Gravitation, should receive a satisfactory physical explanation by the proposed theory.
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Thus the physical cause of the centripetal and centrifugal forces should receive for the first time a physical explanation.
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Newton's Laws of Motion, in so far as they conform to his own Rules of Philosophy, should also receive a physical explanation.
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Kepler's Laws, which govern the motion of planets in their orbits, should also receive a similar physical explanation. Indeed, all phenomena which the Law of Gravitation explains from a mathematical standpoint, ought to receive a physical explanation by the proposed new conception of the Aether medium.
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In addition to the outstanding physical cause of Gravitation, there are other physical
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problems that yet remain to be solved; as, for example, there is the question as to what is the
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relative motion of Aether to moving matter. Does the Aether move with matter through
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space as suggested by Michelson's and Morley's experiment of America, or does it flow
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freely through all matter, as it is usually thought to do? I premise I will give a satisfactory
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solution of this problem in due course.
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[8]
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Again, in relation to the Phenomena of Light, there is still outstanding the problem of the physical explanation as to the transverse vibration of light. This problem will also be dealt with from the standpoint of our new conception of the Aether. Whether it will be as satisfactorily solved, as the physical cause of Gravitation, remains to be seen.
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Further, there is also the important question yet unsolved, as to what Matter is. Lord Kelvin and Dr. Larmor have recently given to the world certain conceptions as to the origin of Matter, and I shall endeavour to show that such conceptions receive confirmation and support by the proposed new conception of the Aether.
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Another problem that will be attacked and solved, will be the cause of the Permanent Magnetism of the earth, with an answer to some of the questions propounded by Professor Schuster at the British Association of 1892 relative to the magnetism of solar bodies.
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There is certainly some physical explanation as to the cause of the earth being a magnet, yet up to the present no satisfactory physical theory has been given. I premise that the new conception of the Aether, to be submitted in the after pages, will satisfactorily account, and that on a philosophical basis, for this phenomenon.
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Lastly, one of the most interesting discoveries of the present day will receive an added confirmation and explanation in the conception of the Aether medium to be advanced. I refer to the system of Wireless Telegraphy that has been so successfully developed by Signor Marconi, and I premise that new light will be thrown on that discovery by the suggested theory of the Aether.
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Now, if all these problems can be partially or wholly solved by the same theory that is advanced to explain the physical cause of Gravitation, it needs no further comment to show that that theory is considerably strengthened and more firmly established.
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For it is a rule in Philosophy, that the more problems any suggested theory can solve, the greater are the claims of that theory for acceptance by scientists generally. For, if two rival theories can solve three and ten physical problems respectively, then, in giving a decision as to which is the better theory, the balance of opinion would be overwhelming in favour of that theory which could solve the ten problems. So that, if in addition to the satisfactory explanation of the physical cause of Gravitation, some, if not all of the other problems can be solved, as I premise they can, by the same conception of the Universal Aether, then it follows our third rule of Philosophy will be more than fulfilled, and the theory so advanced will be placed upon such a strong foundation, that it can only be overthrown by proving that [9] it contradicts the results of some undiscovered phenomena.
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Art. 7. Application of Rules to Gravitation.--Let us therefore apply Newton's own Rules of Philosophy to the Law of Gravitation, and endeavour to find out if the law, as at present
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understood, fully satisfies his own Rules of Philosophy. No one can reasonably object to subjecting the Law of Gravitation to the test of those principles which he lays down as the fundamental Rules of Philosophy.
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If it comes through the ordeal with complete success, that is, if it is essentially simple in its conception and development, and if all its details are fully in accord with experience, as revealed by observation and experiment, then there will be no need to alter any of its hypotheses or axioms. If, on the other hand, it violates any of the rules as laid down by Newton, then, to that extent, an alteration will be necessary, in order that the Law of Gravitation may be brought into conformity with his own rules, and our Philosophy made to agree with our experience and observation.
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Art. 8. Analysis of Law of Gravitation.--In order to accomplish this, let us ask ourselves, “What are the component parts of this Law of Gravitation?” The Law is not a simple law, but a compound one. It is compounded primarily of three parts.
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1st. A Primitive Impulse.
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2nd. A Centripetal Force.
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3rd. A Centrifugal Force.
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To these must be added the three Laws of Motion; although they are not directly part of the Law of Gravitation, yet they are essential to its effectiveness and completion. Without any one of these, the Law of Gravitation would fail to account for all the phenomena that it does account for.
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If there were no Primitive Impulse, then the planets and meteors, sun and stars would for ever remain at rest, and the Laws of Motion would remain inoperative. If there were no Centripetal Force, then the Centrifugal Force would hurl the planets and comets, asteroids or minor planets away into the depths of space, never to return to their central sun.
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If there were no Centrifugal Force, then the Centripetal Force would draw all bodies, i. e. all planets, etc., to their central sun, and, instead of the planets continually revolving round the sun, there would be but one immense solitary mass in the centre of the solar system.
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If there were no Laws of Motion, with their necessary corollary the Parallelogram of Forces, the Primitive Impulse would cease to act, and the Law of Gravitation would again fail in its [10] attempt to account for those phenomena it does account for.
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Thus, as it may easily be seen, Gravitation is a compound Law, depending upon at least four hypotheses, and therefore is not essentially a simple Force, or Law.
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If, therefore, in giving a physical explanation of the cause of Gravitation, we can reduce all these four elements of the Law into one single physical cause, i. e. the Universal Aether, and show how they may all be explained and accounted for by the properties, qualities and motions of that physical medium, then such a result will be strictly in harmony with the first Rule of Philosophy, as laid down by Newton and others.
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We will, therefore, proceed to consider some of these parts of the Law of Gravitation in detail.
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Art. 9. Primitive Impulse.--This may be explained as follows. At the creating and launching of each world, Newton supposed that there was given to each world an impulse or tendency to fly off from the controlling centre into space. On this matter MacLaurin writes as follows: “If we had engines of sufficient force, bodies might be projected from them, so as not only to be carried a vast distance away without falling to the earth, but so as to move round the whole earth without touching it; and, after returning to the first place, commence
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a new revolution with the same force they first received from the engine; and after the second revolution, a third, and thus revolve as a moon or satellite round the earth for ever. If this can be effected near the earth's surface, it may be done higher in the air, or even as high as the moon. By increasing the force or power, a body proportionately larger may be thus projected, and by a power sufficiently great, a heavy body, not inferior to the moon, might be put in motion, which might revolve for ever round the earth. Thus Sir Isaac Newton saw that the curvilineal motion of the moon in her orbit, and of a projectile at the surface of the earth, were phenomena of the same kind, and might be explained from the same principle extended from the earth so as to reach the moon, and that the moon was only a greater projectile that received its motion in the beginning of things from the Almighty Author of the Universe.”
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Now what I desire to know is, “What is the nature, the mode of operation, and, above all, the physical cause of this Primitive Impulse?” Is it in its nature and mode of operation a simple Force, or Cause? Does it fulfil the condition of Newton's First Rule of Philosophy? Permit me to suggest several lines of thought which may be made the basis of its analysis.
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Astronomers tell us that there are in existence millions of stars, and suns, flooding [11] immensity and space with their light and heat.
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Now the question I wish to ask regarding Primitive Impulse in relation to all these stars is this: “Was the Primitive Impulse imparted to each sun, and star, and planet, separately and distinctly?” If so, then there must have been just as many Primitive Impulses as there are stars and suns and planets, and there would be according to a certain astronomer's estimate at least 800,000,000 Primitive Impulses, which assumption is altogether opposed to, and violates the First Rule of Philosophy.
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If, on the other hand, it is affirmed that they all received their motion at one and the same time, then I ask: “What was the physical cause and method adopted to communicate the impulse to each one at the same time?” If the reply is given, that it was by Universal Gravitation, I have two objections to make to such a reply: first, that Gravitation is altogether inoperative without the Primitive Impulse, otherwise why was it conceived? and secondly, what is the physical cause of Gravitation?
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Again, scientists inform us that there is every reason for believing, that stars and suns are still being formed in the universe, and that there are certain distinctive phenomena which go to prove that statement. Now, if that be true, and I believe it to be true, I wish to ask if the Primitive Impulse as suggested by Newton, is applicable to the stars and suns already in process of formation in the various nebulae? and, if so, at what point in the star's history or development is that Impulse applied?
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Personally, I cannot conceive of the Great Creator of all things being so lacking in inventive genius, if I may reverently use that term, as to necessitate a separate Impulse being given to every separate star, or sun, as each one is created or formed during the progress and development of the universe of worlds.
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I would much rather believe that which I hold to be the correct explanation, viz. that He has given to a certain fundamental and primordial medium, certain qualities and properties, by, and through which are originated and perpetuated, all the motions of the heavenly bodies already existent in the universe, or that are ever likely to be existent throughout all time.
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The question of separate Primitive Impulses for separate bodies becomes more and more incongruous and inadmissible, as we consider it in its application to such small bodies as meteors and planetoids. Is it not contrary to our fundamental principles of Philosophy, that a separate Impulse should be necessary for all small bodies that exist in their myriads throughout the solar system, not to speak of the universe of which that system forms a part? Such a conception as Primitive Impulse, to each separate world, is altogether opposed to
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one's idea of that simplicity and beauty which govern the universe at large, and violates the [12] first rule of our philosophical reasoning, and for this reason must be rejected from the System of Philosophy to be propounded in this work.
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Art. 10. Centripetal Force.--Let us now look at the Centripetal Force, and ask ourselves what is meant by such a force, and what is its mode of action and working. Centripetal Force, strictly, may be defined as that force which is always exerted towards the centre of the attracting body.
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Taking the earth as an example, Newton points out, that though the gravity of bodies arises from their gravitation towards several parts of the earth; yet, because this power acts always towards the centre of gravity of the earth, it is therefore called the Centripetal Force.
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This force, then, is that part of the Law of Gravitation which corresponds to the Attraction of Gravitation, and is always exerted in that straight line from the body attracted, to the centre of the attracting body, which joins the centres of gravity of the two bodies concerned.
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The combination and effect of the various forces included in the Law of Gravitation are illustrated by the familiar illustration of the ball whirled round the hand by a piece of string, or the bucket filled with water, whirled round in the same way. Let us take the former. A piece of string with a ball attached to one of the ends is held firmly by the hand. An impulse or motion is imparted to the ball by the hand, that motion being continued by the movement from the hand. The first impulse given to the ball by the hand represents the Primitive Impulse. The tension on the string which holds the ball to its controlling centre represents the Centripetal Force, while the opposite force on the string, which takes up the Primitive Impulse and continues it, is represented by the Centrifugal Force.
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The conception of the Centripetal Force is therefore simple, and entirely in accordance with our experience as gathered from observation and experiments. Both in the spheres of electricity, and magnetism, we find a similar force acting, which tends towards the centre of the attracting body, and therefore the Centripetal Force satisfies the first two Rules of our Philosophy.
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Further, it adequately accounts for certain distinctive phenomena which occur through the Law of Gravitation, as, for example, the falling of bodies to the earth, and therefore is entirely in harmony with all the requirements of those principles enunciated by Newton for the successful explanation of any phenomena. I need hardly point out, therefore, this being so, any physical cause suggested as the explanation of Gravitation must deal with the Centripetal Force, and be able to give a physical explanation of the mode and manner in [13] which the Centripetal Force operates.
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The Attraction of Gravitation or the Centripetal Force, however, being, as its name implies, simply a drawing or pulling power to a centre, that is, a force that is ever and ever only drawing matter to matter, or body to body, it could not of, and by itself, accomplish those necessary stellar and planetary motions by which are produced that universal order, unity and harmony which characterize the universe. It is essentially in its operations and influences, a one-sided force, ever tending and influencing towards self, and therefore by itself would only be a detriment and an evil; and, unless it were accompanied by some companion or complementary and counter force, with which it acts in union and concert, and which exactly counteracts its pulling power and influence, it would soon draw star to star, and world to world, crashing and heaping them together in ruinous and dire confusion. So that, instead of the infinitude of worlds which now exist, which flash and sparkle in the heavens, and in their intricate, elaborate, and mazy motions move through the vast infinity like stately armies on the march, there would only be one agglomeration of matter, a silent and solitary mass existing in the vast abyss of space.
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Therefore, as soon as Sir Isaac Newton had discovered and demonstrated the existence of the power of Attraction, as represented by the Centripetal Force, and its association with the universe at large, there was seen at once the necessity of another Force, of an opposite character, which would form the companion and complementary force to Attraction; a repulsive, repellent force, one tending or repelling from a centre, so as to counterbalance the influence of the Centripetal Force which ever tends towards the centre.
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To fill up the blank, there was conceived to exist what is called a Centrifugal Force, that is, literally, a Force acting, and ever acting from a centre, and with that Force we will now deal.
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Art. 11. Centrifugal Force.--In applying our Rules of Philosophy to this Force, if by Centrifugal Force is simply meant that Force which is the exact opposite of the Centripetal Force, that is, a Force which acts from a centre, instead of to a centre, then such a Force is strictly in harmony with, and satisfies all the conditions of the two first Rules of Philosophy.
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Not only is such a conception simple, but it is also in accordance with experience and observation. Professor Hicks in his address to the British Association in 1895 said: “What is called Centrifugal Force is an apparent bodily Force directed outwards from the centre of curvature of the body's path, and having an intensity equal to the distance from the centre [14] multiplied by the square of the absolute angular velocity.”
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In the sphere of magnetism and electricity, the operation of two equal and opposite forces prevails. The attractive force of electricity, which is exerted to the centre, is always accompanied by the generation and development of a repulsive force, it being one of the fundamental rules of electricity that equal and opposite quantities of electricity are always generated at one and the same time. So that if the Centrifugal Force is viewed as being simply the exact opposite of the Centripetal Force, it fully satisfies the test when the first two rules laid down by Newton are applied to it.
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If, on the other hand, Centrifugal Force implies and embodies the idea of continuance of the Primitive Impulse, as I believe it is supposed to do, then to that extent it is not conformable to the principles of our Philosophy, as embodied in the rules given by Newton.
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Simply because, while it supposes a source or origin of its activity at the first, it goes on to suppose a continuance of that activity, without recognizing a continuing source or cause. It only recognizes and supposes the one original impulse given at the beginning, to account for the cause of the continually existing, and exerted power of the Centrifugal Force. I do not for a moment suggest, that the Divine Creator of all things, and the Ordainer and Upholder of all powers, forces and laws could not, had He chosen to give such a force, have given it and for ever operating. With that aspect of the question I have nothing to do, and of it nothing to say. I am dealing, and only wish to deal, with scientific facts, and scientific teaching from the purely philosophical standpoint.
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Such an idea of a continuing effect, without a continuing cause, is altogether opposed to experience and observation, and is a violation of the second Rule of Philosophy.
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Look where we will, or at what we will, and not only effects and causes are seen on every side, and in every thing, linked together inseparably, but wherever, and in whatever phenomena there is found a continuance of effect or effects, there is always and without exception found also a continuing source or cause.
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Wherever Nature, therefore, gives us a continuous effect of any kind or sort, she always gives us a continuing cause, that can be both proved and demonstrated to exist. Nowhere in Nature, amid all her powers, principles and laws, is there to be found an effect without a cause, and in all continuing effects, a continuing and perpetuating cause also, and that effect exists just as long as the cause exists.
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If the effect is perpetual, then the source and cause is perpetual also, both in its existence [15] and energy. Hence if the Centrifugal Force embodies the idea of continuance of the Primitive Impulse, without showing how that Primitive Impulse is continued, then such an idea is an anomaly in the universe, is altogether opposed to the teaching of Nature and science, and violates the most fundamental principles of our Philosophy.
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The philosophic explanation, therefore, of the Centrifugal Force, is that Force which flows from a centre, and which is the exact opposite and counterpart of the Centripetal Force. Further, as the Centripetal Force is an attractive Force ever attracting to a centre, so the Centrifugal Force, being its exact opposite, is a repulsive Force, which fulfils all the laws and conditions which govern the Centripetal Force, as it is in every phase and aspect the exact opposite, being indeed its complement and counterpart.
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Any physical explanation of the Law of Gravitation, therefore, must also give a satisfactory physical explanation of this Force, and show its mode of operation and working. This I premise I will do without the faintest shadow of doubt or failure; that is, if we are to accept the evidence of some of the most delicate experiments of modern times relative to aetherial physics.
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Art. 12. Laws of Motion.--One of the most important factors in the successful application of the Attraction of Gravitation to the universe at large, are the Laws of Motion enunciated by Sir Isaac Newton. These are three in number, and are as follows--
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1st. Every body continues in its state of rest, or of uniform motion in a straight line, except in so far as it may be compelled by impressed Forces to change that state.
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2nd. Change of motion is proportionate to the impressed Force, and takes place in the direction of the straight line in which the Force acts.
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3rd. To every action there is always an equal and contrary reaction.
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Corollary.--To these must be added the first Corollary of the three laws which is commonly known as the Parallelogram of Forces, which is as follows: “That when a body is acted upon by two Forces at the same time, it will describe a diagonal, by the motion resulting from their composition, in the same time that it would describe the sides of the parallelogram.”
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Now let us apply Newton's Rules of Philosophy to these laws, and see if they fulfil the conditions laid down therein.
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In the first place, there being three laws necessary to cover all the motions involved, there is not that simplicity of conception which is a primary factor in the making of any hypothesis. Then it will be observed that even after postulating the three laws, Newton was unable to [16] account for the elliptic orbits of the planets, until he had added a Corollary known as the Parallelogram of Forces.
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Art. 13. Force.--The question has arisen also, as to the meaning of the term Force which Newton uses. What is a Force, its cause and mode of operation? The idea of Force is conveyed to us by our “muscular sense,” which gives us the idea of pressure, as for example when we push or pull a body along the ground.
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We must not, however, limit our idea of Force to that narrow circle. It has now been fully established that Sound and Heat, Light, Magnetism, and Electricity are Forces, and therefore capable of doing work, as will be shown later on. Newton's use of the term Force is therefore somewhat vague; he does not definitely say what the Force is which causes the change of position, of the body, or of the rate of motion of that body. That it is something to do with Gravitation is obvious, but its exact nature or character is not revealed.
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Since Newton's time we have made an advance in the definition of Force, and have come to consider Force as a kind of energy; the application of Force being the application of energy. Such terms as Mechanical Force, Chemical Force, Vital Force, are therefore out of date, and in their place the more definite ideas of energy are substituted. Instead, therefore, of getting such terms as Transformation of Forces, we now get Transformations of Energy. In the chapter on Energy, I hope to show that even that is not a satisfactory solution of the definition of a Force. If we are to make our Philosophy agree with our experience, then Force is due to motion, and motion alone.
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So that Centrifugal Force will imply a motion from the centre; Centripetal Force a motion whose effect is ever towards the centre of gravity of any body.
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Art. 14. First Law of Motion.--This may naturally be divided into two parts for the purpose of applying the Rules of Philosophy.
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(I) Every body continues in a state of rest, except in so far as it is compelled by impressed Forces to change that state. To what extent is this statement conformable to our experience and observation? If I place a body, as for example a weight, on a table, will it remain in that state until it is moved by some other Force? I think that it will so remain, and to that extent the law conforms to experiment.
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Wider observation, and all experience, also prove the conformity of this part of the First Law of Motion to the second Rule of Philosophy, as all experience testifies to the fact that a body remains at rest, until some other power or force moves it from the position of rest. The [17] application of this position of rest to any of the planets is, however, very difficult to conceive. MacLaurin, in relation to this fact, states: “This perseverance of a body in a state of rest can only take place in absolute space, and can then only be intelligible by admitting it.” In dealing with the physical cause of Gravitation, I hope to be able to show that it can not only be admitted as a mathematical proposition, but that it can be made intelligible from the physical standpoint.
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The second part of the First Law of Motion may be stated as follows: “Every body continues in a state of uniform motion in a straight line, except in so far as it is compelled by impressed forces to change that state.”
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Now what is the testimony of observation and experiment in regard to this part of the First Law of Motion? Let us test the question by the results of our experience. If a ball is sent rolling along the ground, its motion is gradually reduced until it comes to rest. If the ground is very rough indeed, as for example a ploughed field, then its speed will be very soon reduced, and the ball quickly comes to a standstill. If, however, the ground is smooth and level, like a well-kept cricket-field, then the motion of the ball will be reduced more slowly, and it will travel further before being brought to rest; while, if the ball is thrown along a very smooth surface of ice, it will travel a much longer distance before it is finally brought to rest.
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Thus we learn, that the more we can get rid of all resistances to the motion of any body, the greater distance will the body travel, and the less diminution there is in the uniform motion of the body. So that, if it were possible to obtain a medium which offered no resistance at all to a moving body, then it would be a legitimate inference to infer that a body in such a medium, when once set in motion, would move with uniform motion for ever. Under such conditions, therefore, this part of Newton's First Law of Motion is physically conceivable. The crux of the whole matter, therefore, lies in the problem as to whether there is, or there is not, in existence, such a thing as a frictionless medium. We will therefore consider the problem of the existence of a frictionless medium from the philosophical standpoint.
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Professor Lodge, in Modern Views of Electricity, p. 331, writes: “Now, if there is one thing with which the human race has been more conversant than another, and concerning which
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more experience has been unconsciously accumulated than about almost anything else that
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can be mentioned, it is the action of one body upon another; the exertion of Force by one
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body on another, the transfer of motion and energy from one body to another, any kind of
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effect, no matter what, which can be produced in one body by means of another, whether
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the bodies be animate or inanimate.”
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[18]
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“Now I wish to appeal to this mass of experience, and to ask, Is not the direct action of one body on another across empty space, and with no means of communication whatever, is not this absolutely unthinkable? We must not answer the question offhand, but must give it due consideration, and we shall find, I think, that wherever one body acts on another body by obvious contact, we are satisfied and have a feeling that the phenomena is simple and intelligible, and that, whenever one body apparently acts on another body at a distance, we are irresistibly impelled to look for the connecting medium.”
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Again, on p. 333 of the same work, he adds: “Remember then, that whenever we see a thing being moved, we must look for the rope. It may be visible, or it may be invisible, but unless there is either a push or a pull, there can be no action.”
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Now, in relation to celestial phenomena, we are confronted with the fact of bodies acting on one another, and yet apparently they do not act upon one another by or through a medium, and to that extent according to the above extracts, such phenomena are opposed to universal experience. Again, we find planets and satellites moving through space with more or less uniform speed, and yet apparently there is no physical medium that acts upon them with either a push or a pull, as the present conception of the Aether is that of a frictionless medium, so that experience in its widest form seems altogether opposed to the existence of a frictionless medium.
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Again, Tait in his Natural Philosophy says: “The greater masses, planets and comets moving in a less resisting medium, show less indications of resistance. Indeed it cannot be said that observations upon any one of these bodies, with the exception of Encke's Comet, has demonstrated resistance. The greater masses, planets and comets moving in a less resisting medium, show less indications. No motion in Nature can take place without meeting resistance due to some if not all of these influences. The analogies of Nature and the ascertained facts of physical science forbid us to doubt that every one of them, every star, and every body of every kind has its relative motion impeded by the air, gas, vapour, medium, or whatever we choose to call the substance occupying the space around it, just as the motion of a rifle-bullet is impeded by the resistance of the air.”
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What is the testimony of our own personal observation and experiments to such an impossible entity as a frictionless medium? Can any of the readers tell me of any medium, be it solid, liquid, or gaseous, that they have ever heard of, or read of, or experimented with, that possesses the quality of being frictionless? The answer is unanimously in the negative. [19] But a frictionless medium was absolutely imperative to the success of the Newtonian aspect of the Law of Gravitation. If the Aether had not been frictionless, then the First Law of Motion would have been violated, and a body, as for example a planet set in motion, would not then have moved with uniform motion, but would have been brought to a standstill by the resistance of the Aether. Accepting therefore experience as a guide, as we are bound to do if we wish to be strictly philosophical, as Newton pointed out, then we are compelled to come to the conclusion that there is no such thing in the entire universe as a frictionless medium. Such a hypothesis is contrary to all laws and rules of Philosophy, and to continue to advocate its claims is to remain where we are in relation to the cause of Gravitation, and in complete ignorance of the beauty and harmony of the wonderful physical mechanism that underlies the whole of the universe. Of course, if experience and observation are no guide to Philosophy, then we will let imagination run riot, and postulate the most extravagant explanations for the varied phenomena of the heavens. With experience of no account, we will affirm that the moon is made of green cheese, that the earth is flat, that the sun revolves
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round the moon, and a host of other absurd hypotheses that require no correction by experience and observation. But there, a truce to such absurd imaginations. Experience is a guide to Philosophy, its claims are recognized by the greatest Philosopher the world has ever known, and therefore as either experience or a frictionless medium has to go, we will part with the frictionless medium, and endeavour to make a hypothesis of the Aether that is in greater harmony with our Rules of Philosophy.
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Art. 15. Second Law of Motion.--The application of Newton's Rules of Philosophy to the Second Law of Motion is attended with greater success than was the case with his First Law. “Change of motion,” he states, “is proportionate to the impressed Force, and takes place in the direction of the straight line in which the Force acts.”
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Newton adds this explanation to his Second Law: “If a Force generates any motion, a double Force will generate double motion, and a triple Force triple motion, whether they are applied simultaneously or gradually and successively. And this motion, if the body were already moving, is either added to the previous motion, if it is in the same direction, or subtracted from it if directly opposed to it, or is compounded with the previous motion if the two are inclined at an angle.”
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According to that, a force which presses or pushes with a four-pound pressure per square inch, if doubled, would press with a force of eight pounds per square inch, which fact agrees with experience. If the force is applied gradually, then the change of motion would be [20] gradual; if applied suddenly, then the resultant motion would be sudden and violent.
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The impressed force, therefore, always produces a definite and corresponding effect on any moving body, however that force may be originated, and however it may be applied. The effect so produced is always a change of motion, or, in present scientific terms, a change of momentum in the moving body. If the impressed force is halved, by an alteration in the mass of the body which exerts the impressed force, then the resultant momentum produced is halved also. If the impressed force is doubled, through any alteration in the velocity of the body which exerts the force, then the momentum produced in the moving body will be doubled also. So that the impressed force is equal to the change of momentum in the moving body upon which it is impressed.
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When similar forces are impressed upon exactly similar bodies, the velocities produced are exactly the same; but, if similar forces act on dissimilar bodies, then the velocities produced in the different bodies are not the same; yet the total motion produced on all bodies, according to the Second Law of Motion, must always be proportionate to the impressed force. So that when we compare the effect of similar forces on different bodies, we find that there are two factors involved, viz., the mass and velocity of the moving body. The product of these two quantities is termed the momentum of the body.
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When we apply the Second Law of Motion to the theory of aetherial dynamics, as suggested in this work, we shall seek to show that Newton's Second Law of Motion holds good in its application to the new theory. With the present conception of a frictionless Aether, however, it is philosophically impossible for the Aether to exert force on any body that may exist in it. Because, to the extent that it is frictionless, to that extent it ceases to possess mass. If it does possess mass, then it cannot be frictionless. Such an assumption violates all the Rules of Philosophy.
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Yet the Aether is supposed, in some unknown manner, to possess inertia, which property is also dependent on mass. If the Aether really possesses inertia, then it must possess mass, and possessing mass it ceases to be a frictionless medium. So that if it possesses mass, then it can exert force the same as any other body, and Newton's Second Law of Motion is applicable to it.
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Art. 16. Third Law of Motion.--Newton's Third Law of Motion reads as follows--
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“Action and re-action are equal and opposite, or, to every action there is always an equal and contrary re-action.” This law is also conformable to experience; for, by experiment, it [21] has been proved to hold good for electric and magnetic action. As MacLaurin points out, the Third Law of Motion may be extended to all sorts of powers that take place in Nature, and belongs to attraction and repulsion of all kinds, and must not be considered as being arbitrarily introduced by Newton.
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The mutual action between any two bodies has, therefore, a double action. Thus a piece of stretched string must be conceived as pulling at both ends; the pull at the one end being exactly equal and opposite to the pull on the other end.
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A magnet will attract a piece of iron with a certain force, but it is equally true that the iron attracts the magnet with an exactly equal and opposite force. We might even extend the application of this Third Law to a falling stone in its relation to the earth. Thus, if a stone is dropped from a high altitude to the surface of the earth, although the motion seems to be all in one direction, yet if the Third Law holds good, then the earth is attracted by the stone in exactly an equal, but opposite direction, to that in which the earth attracts the stone.
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As, however, the mass of the earth is very great compared with that of the stone, it follows that the velocity of the stone compared with the velocity of the earth, must be very much greater, in order that the forces shall be equal.
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The application of this Third Rule of Motion to planetary and celestial phenomena is therefore philosophical, in that its conception agrees with experience and observation.
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Thus, while it is true that the sun attracts each of the planets in his system, it is equally true that the planets, in their turn, attract the sun with an exactly equal and opposite force. But the velocity of motion induced by the earth's attractive power upon the sun, would be less than the velocity of motion induced by the sun's attractive power upon the earth, although the two forces would be equal and opposite, simply because force, being a compound quantity, is dependent upon the mass of a body as well as upon its velocity.
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Not only, however, is it true that the sun and all the planets jointly attract each other, but it is equally true that the planets attract each other also, with an exactly equal and opposite effect. Indeed, as Gravitation is universal, it has to be conceived that there are no two bodies existing, but what the Third Law of Motion equally applies to those two bodies; so that equality of action and re-action is as universal as the Law of Gravitation itself.
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In coming to a conclusion with reference to Philosophy and the Laws of Motion, I wish to say that I am strongly of the opinion that the day has come, or will soon come, when they will pass away and give place to a more direct and simple method of working of the great Law of Gravitation. I look upon the Laws of Motion as part of the scaffolding which has [22] been used to build up the Law of Gravitation. That Law has now been erected, and stands firm and secure in its position in the universe. Whatever changes may take place in its scaffolding, the Law itself will stand out with greater beauty and clearness, if we could but see the perfected structure, apart from the props and helps which have assisted in its successful erection and completion. As Dr. Larmor said, in his address to the British Association, 1900: “There has even appeared a disposition to consider that the Newtonian principles, which have formed the basis of physical phenomena for nearly two centuries, must be replaced in these deeper subjects by a method of more direct description of the cause of the phenomena. The question has arisen, as to how far the new methods of aetherial physics are to be considered as an independent departure; or how far they form the natural development of existing dynamical science.”
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I hope, therefore, to be able in this work to do something towards clearing the completed Law from some of the outside props, which have long hidden the simplicity, beauty and
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harmony of the physical working of Gravitation from the eyes of those who feign would see its wonderful mechanism.
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In the elaboration and development, therefore, of the physical cause of Gravitation, it will be necessary to conceive a medium, whose properties and motions shall be able to account for all the movements of the planets, comets, suns and stars that the Laws of Motion now account for. Instead, however, of there being several Laws purely and simply mathematical in their application, there will be one physical medium, which will by its properties and motions account for--and that in a satisfactory manner--all the motions of the heavenly bodies. That such a medium is required in the scientific world is proved by the statement made by Professor Glazebrook, in his work on J. C. Maxwell, page 221, where he says: “We are still waiting for some one to give us a theory of the Aether, which shall include the facts of electricity and magnetism, luminous radiation, and it may be Gravitation.”
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Art. 17. Summary of the Chapter.--In summing up the contents of this chapter, we find therefrom, that there is a Universal Law in existence that is known as the Law of Gravitation. The physical cause of this Law, however, is unknown; Newton suggesting that it was due to the properties of an aetherial medium that pervaded the universe.
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To form a right conception of this medium, and to develop the hypotheses of the same on
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strictly philosophical lines, it is essential for us to know the rules which govern the making
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of any hypothesis.
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[23]
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Those rules, according to Newton, and other philosophers, are chiefly three in number, and form the very essence of any philosophical reasoning. Any departure from those rules will entail partial or entire failure in the success of the undertaking.
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The application of Newton's rules to parts of the great Law of Gravitation show that some of those parts are not fully in harmony with the rules which Newton laid down in his Principia.
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Any physical theory that may be hereafter suggested as the physical basis for the Law of Gravitation, must itself not only account for the various forces already referred to, but must itself fulfil the Rules of Philosophy laid down by Newton. That is to say, the conception of the physical medium must be simple in character, its properties and motions must agree with all our experience, as given by observation, and experiments; and the properties and motions postulated for it must satisfactorily account for, and explain all the phenomena that are presented to us by the Universal Law of Gravitation.
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If all this be done, then from the standpoint of strict philosophical reasoning, the physical
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medium so suggested, and the theory so made, will be incapable of being overthrown or
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disproved.
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[24]
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CHAPTER II
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PHILOSOPHY OF GRAVITATION
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Art. 18. Gravitation Attraction.--The Law of Gravitation being a compound law, and not a simple law (Art. 8), it is necessary that the principles which govern universal attraction should now be considered.
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The law which governs Gravitation Attraction may be defined as follows: Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force whose direction is that of a line joining the centre of their masses, whose magnitude is directly as the product of their masses, and inversely as the square of the distance between them.
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This may be divided into four parts.
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(1) The Universality of Gravitation.
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(2) The Direction of the Forces involved.
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(3) The Proportion of these Forces.
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(4) The Law of Inverse Squares.
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The theory of the Aether, therefore, which will be perfected in this work, must not only satisfactorily account for the Attraction of Gravitation on a strictly philosophical basis, but the laws, governing the pressures or tensions of that physical medium, must harmonize with each of the parts of the complex Law of Gravitation into which it has been resolved.
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Art. 19. Universality of the Attractive Force.--The principle upon which Universal Attraction rests is found in the words: “Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle.” It must, however, be admitted that this statement has never actually been proved. The smallest body that Newton used to prove his Law of Attraction was our satellite the moon.
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Cavendish, however, in 1798, by a series of experiments, conclusively demonstrated that the force of Gravitation existed in small bodies. He took two small leaden balls of a certain weight, and fixed them at the ends of a rod about six feet long, the rod being suspended by a piece of wire in the air. Large leaden balls were then brought near the small ones, and great care was taken to see if there were any twist in the wire by which they were suspended. It was found that the wire had become twisted on the approach of the large leaden balls, and [25] thus he was able to prove that every particle of the attracted and attracting body are mutually concerned in the Attraction of Gravitation. There is abundant evidence of the application of this force in relation to our earth, as we shall see later on.
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The universality of the Attraction of Gravitation is a fact that has been proved in a thousand ways, and a thousand times. All stars and suns, and all planets, satellites and comets and nebulae are subject to this universal law. Astronomy teaches us that its power extends across the vast abysses of space, and that stars situated at distances that cannot possibly be measured, are subject to this world-wide law. Some of the greatest discoveries in astronomical science were due to the operations of this wonderful law, the gravitating influences of certain planets indicating their existence, although their discovery had not yet been made.
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The discovery of Neptune through the mathematical calculations of Le Verrier and Mr. Adams in 1846 was the crowning proof of the Law of Gravitation. Mr. Adams in England had noticed that the planet Uranus was being pulled out of the course by some unknown power, and so set to work to calculate the position of the body which thus influenced the motion of Uranus in its orbit. He located the position of the supposed influencing body strictly by mathematical calculations, and then took his results to the Astronomer Royal. Delay, however, occurred in the search for the supposed new planet, and nothing was done further in the matter for many months. Meanwhile Le Verrier in France, unknown to Mr. Adams, had been making similar calculations with reference to the perturbations of Uranus, and had arrived at similar results.
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These results were sent to the Berlin astronomers, and the heavens were searched for the supposed new planet. After a time, the planet was discovered in that part of the heavens indicated by Le Verrier, and for a time his name stood out as the sole discoverer. Gradually, however, the claims of Adams were admitted and recognized, and to-day his claims to participate in the honour of the wonderful achievement are generally admitted. Thus the
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discovery of Neptune gave to the Law of Gravitation a stability and proof that perhaps it had never received before.
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Further evidence of the existence of the universality of the attractive force, is to be found in a certain system of stars known as binary stars, which revolve around each other, while they gravitate around a common centre. Recent researches in astronomy only seek more and more to confirm the universality and effectiveness of this grand law, that seems to hold the entire universe in its sway.
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Any medium, therefore, which is postulated as the physical cause of Gravitation, must itself [26] be as universal as Gravitation, in order for it to be able to fulfil this condition of universality. We shall find, as we proceed, that the only possible medium which can fulfil this condition, is the universal Aether, whose qualities and properties are already partly known and partly understood.
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Art. 20. Direction of the Forces.--The attraction of Gravitation is always directed along the straight line which joins the centres of masses of the attracting and attracted bodies. Thus, if the earth and moon are taken as examples, an imaginary straight line drawn from the centre of the earth's mass to the centre of the mass of the moon would be the direction in which the gravitative force would be exerted. Now a line which joins the central body to its satellite we shall see when we come to deal with Kepler's Laws is known as the Radius Vector. Thus the path of the attraction between the two bodies is along the Radius Vector. It is a singular coincidence that the path of a ray of light from the sun also coincides with the Radius Vector, as it is one of the laws of light that the path of a ray always follows a straight line.
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It must not, however, be assumed, that while the attractive power is being exerted along any one straight line joining the centres of two bodies, therefore the attractive power is not operative in relation to any other part of the space, around the body. If our earth, for example, had four moons instead of one, and they were each in different positions in relation to the earth, then the law as to the direction of the forces would still hold good. We have examples of this in the case of Jupiter with his five moons, and Saturn with his eight moons. So that the attractive force of Gravitation is again like light, it operates on all sides equally at one and the same time. A lamp in the middle of a room sends its light waves on every side at one and the same time, so that while each ray has for its path a straight line, yet those rays are emitted equally on every side. In like manner, though the direction of the forces between two attracting bodies is that of a straight line, yet the law of universal attraction is equally exerted on every side of the planet at one and the same time.
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In the theory of the Aether, therefore, to be developed in this work, it will have to be demonstrated that the direction of the forces, which are originated and transmitted by that physical medium, must philosophically fulfil the conditions which govern the direction of the forces, as observed in gravitational phenomena.
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Art. 21. Proportion of the Forces.--Newton proved that the attraction is proportional to the
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product of the masses of the bodies concerned.
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[27]
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Hence it is that the sun, which is the centre of the solar system, is capable of attracting the most remote planets, because the mass of the sun is greater than the mass of all the planets put together. Or take another illustration. Suppose that the sun and the earth are at equal distances from Saturn. Now the sun's mass is about 300,000 times that of our earth. Therefore if the earth draws Saturn through a certain distance in one second, the sun would draw Saturn through a distance which is 300,000 greater than the earth in the same period.
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The governing principle, therefore, which decides the proportion of the attractive forces between two bodies is mass, and not simply density or volume. The mass of a body is a property which remains the same, as long as the inertia of the body remains constant. Mass
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is really a measure of the inertia of a body, or that property of a body by which it continues in its state of motion or of rest.
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Mass is therefore a compound quantity, being equal to volume multiplied by density, so that if the volume of any body is halved, the density is doubled. Thus, the proportion of the attractive force between any two bodies ever remains the same, so long as the masses of the two bodies remain the same. Through all the changes of volume and density of any body, its attractive force remains constant, as long as the mass remains constant; for the simple reason, that as the volume of a body is increased, the density is proportionately decreased; or, as the volume is decreased, the density is increased.
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For example, the volume of the sun as compared with the volume of the earth, is about 1,300,000 times greater, but the proportion of the attractive forces between the two bodies, is about 324,000 to 1. This difference is accounted for by the fact, that the density of the sun is about one quarter the mean density of the earth, hence their masses are in the proportion of 324,000 to 1. Thus the proportion of the attractive forces between any two bodies is dependent upon their masses, and not simply upon their volume or density.
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Art. 22. Law of Inverse Squares.--The Law of Inverse Squares which is applicable to Gravitation is equally true of Sound, Light, Heat and Electricity, the Law being that Gravitation acts inversely as the square of distance. That is to say, if the distance of any body from the sun, for example, be doubled, then the force of Gravitation is diminished to one quarter of the intensity which would be exerted on the body in the first position.
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Thus the further a body is from its controlling centre, the weaker the Attraction of Gravitation upon it becomes. Taking therefore Mercury and the earth as examples, we find that their mean distances are respectively 35,000,000 miles and 92,000,000, which is a [28] proportion of about 1 to 2-1/2. So that the intensity of the sun's attraction on the earth is about four-twenty-fifths of what it is on Mercury, that being the inverse square of the relative distances of the two bodies.
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Now the intensity of Light and Heat received by the earth is regulated by the same law of inverse squares, so that the earth would receive about four-twenty-fifths the intensity of light and heat which Mercury receives when they are both at their mean distances.
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This law of inverse squares is applicable to every body which acts as a gravitating source throughout the whole of the universe, whether that body be small or large, and whether it be in the form of meteor, satellite, planet, sun or star.
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Each satellite, planet or sun exerts an attractive influence upon every body that exists, that attractive influence being regulated by the masses of the respective bodies, and decreasing inversely as the square of the distance from the body viewed as the centre of attraction. So that, the further the attracted body is from the attracting body, the less is the intensity of the mutual attracting forces, though that intensity does not vary simply as the distance, but rather as the square of the distance, and that in its inverse ratio. Thus if we take two masses of any kind or sort, and place them at various distances as represented by the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, the intensity of the attracting forces between the same masses at the relative distances will be represented by the numbers 1, 1/4, 1/9, 1/16, 1/25, 1/36, which are the inverse squares of the respective numbers representing their distances. As we shall see, the same law holds good in relation to heat, light and electricity, and indeed to all forms of energy which radiate out from a centre equally in all directions.
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There is no need to apply Newton's Rules of Philosophy to this Attraction of Gravitation, as it has been demonstrated to exist, times without number. Moreover its laws are exactly the same as those governing the phenomena of sound, light, heat, and electricity, so that apart from being proved by actual experiments in relation to the gravity of the earth, we have a
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wider experience of the application of the same ruling principles of the law in other departments of science.
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The Law of Universal Attraction, which is strictly the Centripetal Force of the compound Law of Gravitation, fully satisfies the three governing rules of Newton's Philosophy. Not only is it simple in its conception, but it is borne out by experience, and adequately accounts for the distinctive phenomena which it seeks to explain. By it, astronomical observations can be taken with a precision and certainty that defy error or failure. The motion of a planet in its orbit can be so perfectly calculated, that its position in space in relation to other [29] planets can be foretold years in advance. The theory of the Aether, therefore, which is to be perfected in this work, must philosophically show that the pressures or tensions of that medium, which are postulated as the cause of Gravitation Attraction, must themselves fulfil the laws of inverse squares, which govern light, heat, electricity and the Attraction of Gravitation. I premise that this will be done in the theory of the Aether to be submitted to the reader in the after pages of this work.
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Art. 23. Terrestrial Gravity.--Before passing from this phase of the subject, I should like briefly to look at the question of the Attraction of Gravitation from the standpoint of our own earth, as by so doing we shall notice some facts regarding the same, hitherto unnoticed, in the preceding articles.
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Terrestrial Gravity is but a phase of Universal Gravitation. One of the most familiar facts and phenomena of everyday life is, that when a body, such as a stone or stick or bullet, is thrown or projected into the air, it always falls to the earth again. This is due to the attraction of the earth and the stone for each other. It has been proved experimentally that if a stone and a weight are let fall from a height of 16 feet, they would reach the earth in one second of time. Again, a feather, or cork, or even a piece of iron would take exactly the same time falling through the same space, provided that the feather or cork could be screened from the resistance of the air.
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The distance, however, through which a body falls in one second varies at different parts of the earth's surface, being least at the equator, and greatest at the North and South Poles. This is accounted for by the fact that the polar diameter is only 7899 miles, while the equatorial diameter is 7925 miles, thus the distance from the centre of the earth to either pole is about 3950 miles, or 13 miles less than the equatorial radius of the earth. Now the force of gravity decreases upwards from the earth's surface inversely as the square of the distance from the earth's centre of gravity, but decreases downwards simply as the distance from the centre decreases. Thus if a ball were taken down 2000 miles, that is half the distance to the centre, it would only weigh half-a-pound, while if it were taken to the centre of the earth, it would have no weight at all; while a pound weight at the equator would not weigh one pound at the poles, because it would be nearer the centre of the earth by 13 miles.
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Thus a pound weight is not always a pound weight. It varies as we carry it to different parts of the earth's surface, depending upon its relation to the centre of the earth for its exact weight. The point which I wish to make perfectly clear, as it will be necessary for future [30] reference, is, that there is no such thing as weight apart from the gravity of the earth; or, if we apply the principle to the solar system, there is no gravitating force in that system apart from the gravitating force of the central body, the sun, or the planets and other bodies which form the solar system.
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Let us look at this matter from another standpoint, in order to prove this truth and make the same perfectly clear. If a pound weight were put in a spring-balance, then at the surface of the earth it would weigh one pound. Now, we will suppose that we have taken the weight to a height of 4000 miles above the surface of the earth, that is exactly double the distance from the centre of the earth, the radius of the earth being approximately 4000 miles. According to the law of inverse squares, the force of Gravitation decreases inversely as the
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square of the distance. The distance having been doubled, the proportion of the forces at the two places, i. e. the earth's surface and 4000 miles above it, are as 1 to 1/4.
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Thus at a distance of 4000 miles the weight which weighed one pound at the earth's surface, now only weighs a quarter of a pound. At a distance of 8000 miles, the distance would be trebled, therefore the force of Gravitation is one-ninth, and the weight would weigh oneninth of a pound. If we could take the pound weight to the moon, the attractive force of the earth would be reduced to 1-3600, as the moon is 240,000 miles distant, that is sixty times the earth's radius. The square of 60 is 3600, and if we invert that we get 1-3600, so that the weight which weighs a pound at the earth's surface, would only weigh 1-3600 part of a pound at the distance of the moon. This again proves, that apart from the Attraction of Gravitation, there is no such thing as weight, and that the weight so called of any body, such as a planet or satellite, increases or decreases as its distance increases or decreases from its central attracting body.
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Art. 24. Centrifugal Force.--I have already shown in Art. 10 that the Centripetal Force and Universal Attraction are one and the same; as the Centripetal Force always acts towards the centre, and must therefore be in its operation and influence a gravitating or attractive power.
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I have also pointed out in the same article, the necessity of another force, which is to be the complement, and the counter part of Gravitation Attraction. That complement and counter force was conceived by Newton, and called by him the Centrifugal Force. The very nature of the Centripetal Force demands and necessitates a force which in its mode of operation is exactly the opposite of the Centripetal Force. Unless there were such a force, a repellent and repulsive force, then instead of there being that harmonious working of the universe that [31] now exists, there must inevitably be a gradual drawing together of all planets and satellites, of all stars and suns, into one vast, solitary, and ruinous body.
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There are also other phenomena which demand a Centrifugal Force in the universe. It is a well-known fact, that there exist between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars, what are called planetoids, about 500 in number, which are supposed to be the remnants of a broken or shattered world. As may be expected from such an accumulation, they present the most extraordinary diversities and eccentricities in the orbits that can possibly be conceived. They are of all shapes and sizes, and besides their orbits round the sun, have orbits among themselves. They are so clustered together that their orbits intersect each other at numerous points, and when in conjunction are said to suffer great perturbations, being pulled great distances this way and that by each other's attractive influence. It is further stated that their orbits so intersect each other, that if they were imagined to be material rings, they would be inseparable, and the whole could be suspended by taking any one of them up at random. Here, then, is presented to us a kind or order of celestial phenomena for whose well-being and effectual working the Centripetal Force or the Attraction of Gravitation cannot possibly account. In their case another force is demanded which shall be the exact complement and counterpart of the Centripetal Force. There needs therefore a force, not an imagined one, simply conceived to fill a want, but a real Force, as real and as plainly to be understood as the Centripetal Force. A force existing in each world just like the Attraction of Gravitation, only the reverse of Gravitation, a repellent, repulsive Force, acting in the reverse mode, and way, to universal attraction. This Force must be governed by the same rules and laws that govern the Centripetal Force, if it is to work in harmony with the same. It must be universal in its character, having a proportion of forces equal to the product of the masses of the two bodies which are concerned, and its path must coincide with the path of gravitational attraction, that is, in the straight line which joins the centres of gravity of the two bodies. Further, and what is perhaps the most important of all, it must act as a repelling or repulsive force which shall be in the same proportion in regard to distance, as the law governing Centripetal Force, that is, inversely as the square of the distance.
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Again, and briefly, there are also in existence small bodies called meteors, which are said to exist by myriads, which float in space, and circle round the sun. They are of all shapes and sizes, from one ounce to a ton or even tons, thousands of them coming into contact with our [32] earth's atmosphere every year, especially in August and November. All of these small bodies have orbits among themselves, and gravitate round one another, as they revolve round the sun. Now if the orbits of the planetoids be such an entangled mass, what must be the orbits of these meteors? What an indescribable, unimaginable mass of labyrinthian motions must exist among these myriads of little bodies! How they must intersect, cross and intermingle each other's orbits! What attraction and counter-attraction they must exert upon each other! Let me ask any man to sit down and try to imagine how the present recognized Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces can account for the effectual working of these meteors. As illustrating the necessity of a real and physical Centrifugal Force which is to be the exact counterpart of the Centripetal Force, I would call the attention of the reader to Herschel's view of this matter. In dealing with the phenomena of comets' tails he writes:[1] “Beyond a doubt, the widest and most interesting prospect of future discovery, which this study holds out to us, is, that distinction between gravitating and levitating matter, that positive and irrefutable demonstration in nature of a repulsive force, co-extensive with, but enormously more powerful than the attractive force we call gravity which the phenomena of their tails afford.” I premise that this prophecy of Herschel's will be fully demonstrated and proved in the succeeding pages of this work. For, in the theory of the Aether that is to be afterwards perfected, it will be philosophically proved that the physical medium so conceived will satisfactorily account for a force or motion from the centre of all bodies; which motions fulfil all the conditions required by that Centrifugal Force, which is the complement and counterpart of the Attraction of Gravitation. At the present time, with the conception of a frictionless Aether, it is impossible to harmonize the existence of such a force or motion with our theory of the Aether. Yet Professor Lebedew of Moscow, and Nichols and Hull of America, have incontrovertibly demonstrated by actual experiments the existence of such a force. Therefore it follows, that if our present theory of the Aether fails to agree with experimental evidence, such a theory must be reconstructed in order that our philosophy may be made to agree with our experiments and our experience.
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[1]Lectures on Scientific Subjects.
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Art. 25. Kepler's Laws.--A long time before Newton had discovered the Law of Gravitation, Kepler had found out that the motions of the planets were governed by certain laws, and these came to be known as Kepler's Laws.
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These laws which were given to the world by Kepler, simply represented facts or [33] phenomena which had been discovered by observation, as Kepler was unable to account for them, or to give any mathematical basis for the same.
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On the discovery, however, of Universal Gravitation, Newton saw at once that these laws were simply the outcome of the application of the Law of Gravitation to the planets, and that they could be accounted for on a mathematical basis by the Law of Gravitation, as they seemed to flow naturally from that law.
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Kepler's Laws are three in number and may be thus stated--
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1st Law. Each planet revolves round the sun in an elliptic orbit, with the sun occupying one of the Foci.
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2nd Law. In the revolution of a planet round the sun, the Radius Vector describes equal areas in equal times.
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3rd Law. The squares of the periodic times of planets are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances.
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Now the question arises, whether it is possible to form a theory of the Aether which shall satisfactorily and philosophically account for all the phenomena associated with Kepler's Laws in their relation to the motions of planets, satellites, or other solar bodies? On the present conception of the Aether such a result is an absolute impossibility. With the theory of the Aether, however, to be submitted to the reader in this work, the result is possible and attainable. If, therefore, such a result is philosophically proved, as I submit will be done, then we shall have greater evidence still that the theory so propounded is a more perfect theory than the one at present recognized by scientists generally.
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Art. 26. Kepler's First Law.--Each planet revolves round the sun in an elliptic orbit, the sun occupying one of the Foci.
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The ancients thought that the paths of the planets around the sun were circular in form, because they held that circular motion was perfect. A system of circular orbits for the paths of the planets round the sun would be very simple in its conception, and would be full of beauty and harmony. But exact calculations reveal to us that the path of a planet is not exactly that of a circle, as the distance of a planet from the sun in various parts of its orbit is sometimes greater, and sometimes less, than its mean distance.
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The planet Venus has the nearest approach to a circular orbit, as there are only 500,000 miles between the mean, and greatest and least distances, but both Mercury and Mars show great differences between their greatest and least distances from the sun.
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If, therefore, the orbits of a planet are not exactly circular, what is their exact shape? Kepler [34] solved this problem, and proved that the exact path of a planet round its central body the sun was that of an ellipse, or an elongated circle. Thus he gave to the world the first of his famous laws which stated that each planet revolves round the sun in an orbit which has an elliptic form, the sun occupying one of the Foci.
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Not only is the orbit of a planet round the sun elliptic in form, but the path of the moon round the earth, or the path of any satellite, as for example a satellite of Mars or Jupiter or Saturn, is also that of an ellipse, the planet round which it revolves occupying one of the Foci.
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It has also been found that certain comets have orbits which cannot be distinguished from that of an elongated ellipse, the sun occupying one of the Foci.
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Now let us apply the Law of Gravitation to Kepler's First Law, and note carefully its application.
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Let A, B, C, D be an ellipse representing the orbit of the earth, and let S represent the sun situated at one of the Foci.
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We will suppose that the earth is projected into space at the point A, then according to the First Law of Motion, it would proceed in a straight line in the direction of A E, if there were
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no other force acting upon the earth. But it is acted upon by the attraction of the sun, that is the Centripetal Force which is exerted along the straight line S A (Art. 20), which continues to act upon it according to the principle already explained in Arts. 21 and 22.
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Now, according to the Second Law of Motion and the Parallelogram of Forces, instead of the earth going off at a tangent in the direction of A E, it will take a mean path in the direction of A B, its path being curved instead of being a straight line.
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If the sun were stationary in space, then the mean distance, that is, the length of the
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imaginary straight line joining the sun S A to the earth, would remain unaltered. The Radius
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Vector S A, or the straight line referred to, would then be perpendicular to the tangent, and
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the velocity of the earth round the sun would be uniform, its path being that of a circle.
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[35]
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The Radius Vector S A, however, is not always perpendicular to the tangent F E, and therefore the velocity of the earth is not always uniform in its motion in its orbit, as sometimes it travels at a lesser or greater speed than its average speed, which is about 18 miles per second.
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It has to be remembered that the sun itself is in motion, having a velocity through space of about 4-1/2 miles per second, so that, while the earth is travelling from A to B the sun is also travelling in the direction of S B. Thus the orbital velocity of the earth, and the orbital velocity of the sun, together with the Centripetal Force or universal Gravitation Attraction, are all acting in the same direction when the earth is travelling from A to B, that is, in the direction of the orbit situated at B. This point of the orbit is known as the perihelion, and at that point the velocity of the earth is at its greatest, because the earth is then nearest the sun.
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According to Newton, the planet when at B would still have a tendency to fly off into space owing to its Centrifugal Force, but it is held in check by the Centripetal Force, so that instead of it flying off into space, it is whirled round and starts off on its journey away from the sun in the direction of B, C. The sun, however, is still continuing its journey in the direction of S, H, so that not only is the increased orbital velocity of the earth, which it obtained at its perihelion, urging the earth away from the sun, but the sun itself in its advance through space is leaving the earth behind it. The combined effect of the two motions, the advancing motion of the sun, and the receding motion of the earth, due to its increased orbital velocity, drives the earth towards the aphelion, where its distance from the sun is greatest, and its orbital velocity is the least.
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By the time the planet has arrived at point C, its motion through space has gradually decreased, and the Centripetal Force begins to re-assert itself, with the result that the earth is slowly made to proceed towards the point D of the ellipse, at which point its motion is the slowest in orbital velocity, only travelling about 16 miles per second, while the distance of the earth from the sun is the greatest and has increased from 91,000,000 miles at the perihelion to 94,500,000. This point of the orbit is known as its aphelion.
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After rounding this point, the orbital velocity of the earth begins to increase again, owing to
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the diminishing distance of the earth from the sun, which according to the law of inverse
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squares (Art. 22) gives an added intensity to the Centripetal Force.
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[36]
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Thus by the combination of the Laws of Motion and the Law of Gravitation discovered by Newton, he was able to satisfactorily account for and explain on a mathematical basis, the reason why the earth and all the other planets move round the sun in elliptic orbits, according to Kepler's First Law.
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In the development of the physical cause of gravitation, therefore, the same physical medium, which accounts for that law, must also give a satisfactory explanation of the first of Kepler's Laws.
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Art. 27. Kepler's Second Law.--This law states that the Radius Vector describes equal areas in equal times. The Radius Vector is the imaginary straight line joining the centres of the sun and the earth or planet. While the First Law shows us the kind of path which a planet takes in revolving round the sun, the Second Law describes how the velocity of the planet varies in different parts of its orbit.
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If the earth's orbit were a circle, it can be readily seen that equal areas would be traversed in equal times, as the distance from the sun would always be the same, so that the Radius Vector being of uniform length, the rate of motion would be uniform, and consequently equal areas would be traversed in equal times. Take as an illustration the earth, which describes its revolution round the sun in 365-1/4 days. Now if the orbit of the earth were circular, then equal parts of the earth's orbit would be traversed by the Radius Vector in equal times. So that with a perfectly circular orbit, one half of the orbit would be traversed by the Radius Vector in half a year, one quarter in one quarter of a year, one-eighth in oneeighth of a year, and so on; the area covered by the Radius Vector being always exactly proportionate to the time.
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From Kepler's First Law, however, we know that the planet's distance does vary from the sun, and therefore the Radius Vector is sometimes longer and sometimes shorter than when the earth is at its mean distance; the Radius Vector being shortest at the perihelion of the orbit, and longest at the aphelion. We learn from Kepler's Second Law that when the Radius Vector is shortest, that is, when the planet is nearest the sun, it acquires its greatest orbital velocity; and when the Radius Vector is longest, that is, when the planet is farthest from the sun, the orbital velocity of a planet is the slowest.
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Let A, B, D, C represent the elliptic orbit of a planet, with S sun at one of the Foci, and let the triangles A, S, B and D, S, C be triangles of equal area. Then, according to Kepler's Second Law, the time taken for the Radius Vector to traverse the area A, S, B is equal to the time that the Radius Vector takes to traverse the area D, S, C. So that the planet would take an equal time in going from A to B of its orbit, as it would take in going from D to C. Thus [37] the nearer the planet is to the sun, the greater is its orbital velocity, and the farther it is away from the sun the slower is its velocity, the velocity being regulated by the distance. The manner in which the difference of velocity is accounted for by the Law of Gravitation has already been explained in the preceding article. Thus Newton proved that Kepler's Second Law was capable of being mathematically explained, and accounted for, by the universal Law of Gravitation.
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If, therefore, a physical cause can be given for Newton's Law of Gravitation, then such physical cause must also be able to account for, and that on a strictly philosophical basis, the second of Kepler's Laws as well as the first.
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Art. 28. Kepler's Third Law.--The Third Law of Kepler gives the relation between the periodic time of a planet, and its distance from the sun. The periodic time of any planet is
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the time which it takes to go once round the sun. Thus the periodic time of the earth is 3651/4 days. The periodic time of Venus is 224.7 days, while that of Mars is 686.9 days.
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Kepler had found out that different planets had different periodic times; he also found out that the greater the mean distance of the planet, the greater was the time which the planet took to perform its journey round the sun, and so he set to work to find out the relationship of the periodic time to the planet's mean distance.
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After many trials and many failures he arrived at the right conclusion, and at last discovered the true law which is known as Kepler's Third Law, which states that for each and every planet, the squares of their periodic times are proportional to the cubes of their mean distances.
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For purposes of illustration let us take the earth and the planet Venus and compare these two. The periodic time of the earth is 365 days, omitting the quarter day. The periodic time of Venus is 224 days approximately. Now, according to Kepler's Third Law, the square of 365 is to the square of 224, as the cube of the earth's mean distance is to the cube of Venus's [38] mean distance, which are 92.7 millions of miles and 67 millions of miles respectively. The problem may be thus stated--
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As 3652: 2242:: 92.73: 673:
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This worked out gives--
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133,225: 50,176: 796,597.982: cube of Venus's mean distance.
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So that by Kepler's Third Law, if we have the periodic time of any two planets, and the mean distance of either, we can find out the mean distance of the other by simple proportion.
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In making astronomical calculations, the distances of the planets are generally obtained by means of Kepler's Third Law, as the periodic time of the planet is a calculation that may be made by astronomers with great certainty, and when once the periodic times are found, and the mean distance of a planet, as our earth for example, is known, the mean distances of all the other planets in the solar system may soon be obtained.
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In like manner this Third Law of Kepler's is equally applicable to the satellites of any planet. For example, when the periodic time of both of Mars' satellites, Phobos and Deimos, are known, being about 8 hours and 30 hours respectively, and the distance of either is known, as Phobos with a mean distance of 5800 miles, then the mean distance of Deimos can easily be calculated by this law, and is found to be 14,500 miles.
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As discovered by Kepler, the Third Law was simply the result of observation. He was unable to give any mathematical basis for its existence. The Laws as they were given to the world by Kepler were simply three great truths which had been discovered by observation. It rested with Newton to show how these laws could be accounted for on a mathematical basis, and to show how they all sprang from one and the same source, namely the universal Law of Gravitation. In his Principia, he proved that all Kepler's Laws were fully expounded and explained by his great discovery of Universal Gravitation.
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Now what Newton has done for Kepler's Laws from the mathematical standpoint, we propose to do from the physical standpoint. In the development of the physical agency or cause of Gravitation, therefore, among the phenomena and laws, which have to be satisfactorily accounted for on a physical basis, are these three Laws of Kepler's just referred to.
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So that in addition to the satisfactory explanation of a physical cause for the Laws of Motion, and the Centripetal and Centrifugal Forces, the hypothesis of a physical cause of
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Gravitation must fully and satisfactorily account for the Laws of Kepler, whose mathematical explanation was given by Newton.
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Further, and what is as equally important, the explanation so given must be strictly in [39] harmony with the Rules of Philosophy as laid down in Art. 3. That is, the explanation must be simple in character, must not be contrary to experience or observation, and must satisfactorily account for the laws which the hypothesis of the physical cause of Gravitation seeks to explain. This I premise we will do as we pass from stage to stage in the development of the theory.
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I can safely premise that it will be simple in character and conception, that it will be entirely in harmony with all experience and observation, and that the physical cause so advanced will give as physical a basis to Kepler's Laws as Newton's mathematical calculations gave them a mathematical basis.
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In summing up, I need hardly point out, that if all that I have premised in this and the
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preceding chapter is accomplished in the after chapters of this book, then for the first time
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since the discovery of Universal Gravitation by Sir Isaac Newton, his great discovery will
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have received the long-expected and long-desired physical explanation, that explanation and
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cause being founded on his own Rules of Philosophy given in his immortal Principia, and
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for the first time our Philosophy will be brought strictly into harmony with our universal
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experience.
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[40]
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CHAPTER III
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MATTER
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Art. 29. What is Matter?--The law of Universal Attraction states that “Every particle of matter attracts every other particle,” etc., and the question at once arises as to what is meant by the term Matter, what are its properties and its constitution? Tait, in his Natural Philosophy, gives the following as the definition: “Matter is that which can be perceived by the senses, or is that which can be acted upon by, or can exert force.”
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It has already been pointed out in Art. 13 that force is due to motion, and that wherever we get motion of any kind or sort, there we get energy, or what used to be termed force. The consideration of this phase of the question will be more fully dealt with in the chapter on Energy and Motion. Suffice to say, that all experience teaches us that force is the outcome of motion.
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Accepting this definition therefore of force, Tait's definition of matter will read thus, if brought up to date: “Matter is that which can be perceived by the senses, or is that which can be acted upon by motion, or which can exert motion.”
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The common idea that matter can only be that which can be seen or actually felt, is not large enough for a definition of Matter. There are numbers of things in Nature which cannot either be seen or felt, yet which are included in the term Matter. Let us take one or two examples. Every one admits that nitrogen and oxygen are matter, yet I venture to say that no one has actually seen or felt either of these gases. Both of these gases are colourless and invisible, and are both tasteless. You may open your mouth and inspire both gases, and yet if they are pure, you cannot taste either of them. They are only matter, in the sense that they appeal to our sense of force through the motion which they may acquire.
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Or again, take air, which is a mechanical mixture of several gases. Can you see air? If it be free from vapour and smoke, air is invisible, and on a clear day you may look for miles across the sea, or from the top of a mountain, and yet not have your sight impeded in any
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way by the atmosphere. Neither can it be felt by the sense of touch. Open and shut your [41] hand, and see if you can feel the air while you do so. In similar ways it may be demonstrated that the air is tasteless. So that it is not necessary for us to see, or feel, or taste, or even smell that which we term Matter, in order for it to be included in that term. So long as that which we term Matter is able to accept motion in any manner from any body that is either moving, or in a state of vibration, and not only accepts, but also transmits the vibratory, or the kinetic motion so called of the moving body, then that which accepts the motion is legitimately termed Matter.
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It becomes perfectly clear, therefore, why air, aether, oxygen, and hydrogen are termed Matter. Because they can be all acted upon by motion, and after being so acted upon, they can exert motion upon some other body. Heat is a form of motion, and when heat acts upon the air, the latter is set in motion, and we have what are commonly known as winds. It is unnecessary for me to prove that the motion of winds can be transmitted to other matter, as we have numerous examples from our observation and experience, in the case of windmills driven by the motive power of the winds, and also balloons urged along by the same cause; apart from the devastating effect produced in towns and country by a hurricane or storm.
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The point which I wish to emphasize is, that Matter, strictly defined, is that which can be acted upon by motion, such as heat or electricity, both being forms of motion, and which can exert the motion so derived upon some other body.
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Wherever, therefore, in the universe we find any body, whether it be solid, liquid or gaseous, or any medium which can be acted upon by motion, and after being so acted upon, can exert motion, that body or medium may legitimately be included in the term Matter, although it may be absolutely invisible to the eyes, or insensible to the sense of touch, or taste, or smell. In the same work,[2] Tait states that in the physical universe there are but two classes of things, “Matter and Energy,” and then goes on to give examples of both. He adds that a stone, piece of brass, water, air, aether, are particles of matter, while springs, water-power, wind, waves, heat and electric currents are examples of energy associated with Matter.
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Now I may add here, that within these two statements is to be found the germ of the physical cause of Gravitation, together with the satisfactory explanation of all phenomena that the universe reveals to us, either by observation or by experiments. I purpose therefore, before giving any detailed accounts of that medium which is to form the physical basis for the cause of Gravitation, to look at the term Matter in all its aspects, in order that we may [42] get a right conception of the universe, and of the part that Matter plays in the same.
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[2] Tait, Natural Philosophy.
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Art. 30. Conservation of Matter.--The Theory of the Indestructibility of Matter was first introduced by Lavoisier in 1789. This theory may be thus summed up; that Matter which fills the universe is unchangeable in quantity, so that the total quantity ever remains the same. Changes may take place in regard to the state of the Matter, but the sum-total of Matter throughout all the changes remains unaltered. Thus when we burn coal, it is changed into carbonic acid by combination with the oxygen of the atmosphere; when sugar is put into water, it simply passes from the solid to the liquid condition. If a piece of iron or steel is allowed to rust, the surface of the iron has entered into combination with the oxygen and water of the atmosphere, and formed a new substance. So that a body may change from solid to liquid, as for example from ice to water, or from liquid to a gaseous condition, as from water to steam, and probably from a gaseous condition to an aetherial condition as we shall see later on, but the sum-total of Matter throughout all these changes ever remains the same. Thus, throughout all the physical and chemical changes that Matter may undergo in the universe, there is no actual loss in weight or quantity. Throughout the whole realm of Nature we do not find a single instance of the production of absolutely new Matter. We may,
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and can produce new combinations of the forms of Matter. The substance so formed by chemical combination may be different from anything that has ever been seen or produced before, but the elements of which it is formed must have existed in some other form before its production.
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This principle is the great underlying principle of all chemical investigation and research, and may be proved at any time by means of the scales or balance in the laboratory. Lavoisier first made the experiment with the scales and proved this truth by actual demonstration.
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Art. 31. Matter is Atomic.--The hypothesis that Matter is made up of infinitely small particles which are termed atoms, was first proposed by the Grecian philosophers. This hypothesis has gradually taken definite shape, but it remained for Dalton to first put the hypothesis into a connected form, and that form is now known as Dalton's Atomic Theory.
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According to this theory, an atom of hydrogen was the lightest atom known, but
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comparatively recent researches by Sir W. Crookes have shown that there are possibly in
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existence minute particles which are even lighter than an atom of hydrogen. Thus Sir W.
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Crookes has suggested that there are certain particles associated with an atom of hydrogen
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which are 700 times less in weight than the atom itself.
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[43]
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Professor J. J. Thompson has further suggested that if we could divide an atom into a thousand parts, and could take one of those parts, we should find that this corpuscle, as he has termed it, would be the carrier of the charges in an electric current, so that it will be seen that we are moving into the direction of the continuity of Matter. Let us now look at the question as to what is meant by an atom more fully.
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Art. 32. What is an Atom?--Clerk Maxwell's definition of an atom is, “a body that cannot be cut in two.” An atom is the smallest part of a simple substance which can enter into combination with another element, and is incapable of being further subdivided.
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An atom of hydrogen is the smallest part of that particular gas which can enter into combination with any other element, as oxygen, to form a chemical compound as water, which is composed of two atoms of hydrogen and one of oxygen.
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Further, an atom of any kind or sort, retains its identity and remains the same throughout all chemical combinations or physical changes which it may undergo. By spectroscopic analysis, it has been ascertained, for example, that hydrogen exists in the sun and stars, and the conclusion is arrived at in connection therewith, that an atom of hydrogen in any sun or star is the same as an atom of hydrogen in our atmosphere, or in any of the compounds, as water, in which it is found. Thus it has come to be received as an accepted fact, that every atom of any substance, as oxygen, nitrogen, and hydrogen, whether they exist in the earth or sun, in meteorites or the farthest stars or nebulae, wherever they are found, possesses the same identity and the same physical properties.
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Atoms attract one another, and this atomic attraction is known as affinity. There is not the least possible doubt that affinity is a form of universal attraction, except that the affinity of atoms is selective. This affinity of atoms for each other gives rise to the combination of atoms known as molecules and chemical compounds.
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Size of Atoms.--It has been computed by Lord Kelvin and others, that an atom may be as small as 1/50,000,000 of an inch in diameter, so that if 50,000,000 of them were put side by side, they would just measure one inch in length. Atoms are not all of the same size or weight. An atom of oxygen weighs 16 times as much as an atom of hydrogen. It has been proved by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, that the 3/1,000,000 part of a milligramme of sodium chloride is sufficient to give a yellow colour to a gas-jet. Faraday prepared some sheets of gold, so thin that he estimated they only measured the 1/100 part of the length of a light- [44]
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wave. We have to remember that each sheet of gold must have contained molecules of gold composed of atoms. What must have been the size of the atoms therefore of which the sheet was composed?
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Art. 33. The Atomic Theory.--The Atomic Theory was revived by Dalton in 1804, in order to account for the fact that elements unite in certain definite proportions. From that time to the present, the theory has grown and developed until at the present time it is looked upon as a well-established theory. It is, however, simply a theory, and from the very nature of the hypothesis is incapable of proof. No one has ever seen an atom of hydrogen or oxygen, or an atom of any solid, liquid, or gaseous matter. The Atomic Theory suggests, therefore, that there is a limit to the divisibility of matter. All chemical experiments lend support to the theory, and by it we are able to give an intelligible and easy method of expression to what would otherwise be difficult phenomena to explain.
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Ancient philosophers were divided on the question of the infinite divisibility of matter. The Epicureans were of the opinion that matter was incapable of infinite division, and that even if we were able to make the smallest possible division, it would be impossible for us to reach the smallest particle termed “Atom.”
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Art. 34. Kinds of Atoms.--Various forms of atoms have been conceived by philosophers from time to time, ranging from the Hard Atom, and the simple point-centres of Boscovitch, until we come to the more modern Vortex Atom of Lord Kelvin, or the Strain Atom of Dr. Larmor, which will be looked at separately. Democritus conceived a hard atom as long ago as 500 B.C., while the notion of a hard atom is not absent from the works of Newton himself. We find that Newton suggested that the particles of air might be hard spherical bodies, at a distance from one another of about nine times their diameter.
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The hard atom, however, seems to be refuted by spectroscopic analysis, which reveals to us in a manner that has never been revealed before, something of the sizes and vibrations of atoms.
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From the phenomenon of heat, which is simply matter in motion, we feel compelled to accept the fact that an atom is not a hard particle, but that it is something which is more closely allied to the Vortex Atom, or the Strain Atom of Dr. Larmor.
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Boscovitch Atom.--According to Boscovitch's theory, each atom is simply an indivisible point in space capable of motion, and possessing a certain mass whereby a certain amount of energy is required to produce a certain change of motion. In addition to this, any two atoms could attract or repel each other with a force depending upon their distance apart. The [45] Law which regulates these forces for all distances greater than 1/1000 of an inch is an attraction varying inversely as the square of the distance, and a repulsion for less distances.
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We have, therefore, to suppose that in place of the hard atom, there is merely a geometrical point which can exert attractive or repulsive forces to, or from, the central point. So far as external particles are concerned, they would behave just the same as a hard atom would do. This conception was largely entertained in recent times by Faraday. It is more a mathematical explanation than a physical one, but has been found convenient in explaining what takes place in the interior of bodies in their three states, namely: solid, liquid, and gaseous.
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Lord Kelvin's Vortex Atom.--Another hypothesis which has been suggested for the constitution of an atom, is that known as the Vortex Atom, which received its birth at the hands of Lord Kelvin. The underlying principle of this Vortex Atom is, that matter may be entirely due to the rotating parts of a fundamental medium, the Aether, which fills all space.
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The properties of vortex motion were first mathematically calculated by Helmholtz, but it was left to Sir Wm. Thompson, now Lord Kelvin, to give a physical idea of the Vortex
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The Project Gutenberg eBook of Aether and Gravitation, by William George Hooper
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Before entering further into the question of the Vortex Atom, it may be as well to explain how vortex smoke rings may be made.
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All that is required is a wooden box, about one cubic foot in size, with a round hole
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perforated in one of the sides, and the opposite side covered with a piece of linen in place of
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the wooden side. The bottom of the box should then be covered with some strong solution
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of ammonia, and some hydrochloric acid poured into a saucer and put into the box. The
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combination of these two will cause thick clouds to form in the box, and if the linen is
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sharply tapped by the hand, a ring of this cloud will be forced through the hole on the
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opposite side of the box. The ring so formed will be circular in shape, and will go sailing
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through the room in which it is made.
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[46]
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When the hole is circular, the rings will be found circular also, but if the hole is square, then the rings will be irregular in shape. One remarkable characteristic about these rings is, that when two of the rings are travelling in the same straight line, the one behind will overtake the front one, and while so doing, the diameter of the front one is enlarged, while that of the one behind contracts. The front one will also travel slower, while the one behind travels faster until it has caught up the former, and then the latter, having contracted sufficiently, will pass through the diameter of the former as illustrated in the figure. This alternation of contraction and expansion is continued as long as the two rings move in the same plane and until they are destroyed. When, however, the two rings are moving in opposite directions, and meeting each other in the same straight line, they will repel one another, instead of attracting each other.
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Their rate of progress is gradually reduced as they approach together, and they begin to expand and enlarge, but they never touch each other. Another peculiar feature about the rings consists in the fact, that the central core of air in the ring remains the same all the time the ring is in motion through the room, so that it has the same core of air at the end of its journey as it had when it left the box.
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As Lord Kelvin pointed out, if there were no friction of the air, the ring once created would rotate for ever. If, therefore, there were such a thing as a perfect fluid, and there were vortex rings in it, nothing could destroy these rings when once they were created, and this is one of the most striking suggestions with reference to the Vortex Atom theory of matter. It remains to be seen whether in the universe we have such a medium as a perfect fluid.
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Sir Wm. Thompson has applied the Vortex Atom theory of matter to the Aether, but from mathematical calculation he was unable to arrive at a satisfactory conclusion as to the Aether being composed of vortex atoms.
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Another remarkable property belonging to these rings, lies in the fact that they cannot be cut in two. It will be found that when the knife is brought near to them, they seem to recoil from the knife. In that sense, it is literally an atom, a thing which cannot be cut in two.
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The Vortex Atom has many recommendations in its favour. Many of the most important properties of matter are possessed by it, as for example indestructibility, elasticity, inertia,
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compressibility, and its incapability to be cut in two. Further, it may be linked with another
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ring, and so give the basis to the combining properties of atomic weights.
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[47]
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The Vortex Atom theory is simple in character, as it does not postulate any extravagant hypothesis, but makes use of the Aether as the common basis for all matter, simply stating that this property of rotation may be the basis of all that we call matter. We shall further consider the relation of the Vortex Atom to matter, when we deal with the constitution of matter and the unity of the universe.
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Art. 35. Elements of Matter.--As is well known, modern chemistry has succeeded in reducing all the complex forms of matter in Nature into a number of simple substances, which are called elements. Of these elements about seventy are at present known, some of which, however, are very rare. An element therefore is a simple substance which cannot be decomposed by any known force or process, as heat or electricity, into other elements.
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There are, however, only about fourteen of these elements that enter largely into the constitution of the earth, the most common being oxygen and silicon. By the use of the spectroscope, it has been proved that many of these elements, as for example oxygen, hydrogen, sodium and calcium, exist in the sun and stars, as well as in the most distant nebulae. Most of the elementary bodies are to be found in a gaseous form as hydrogen, oxygen, fluorine and chlorine, though it has been found possible to liquefy even these gases. Thus we see that matter may be roughly divided into three states, viz. solid, liquid, or gaseous.
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The condition in which the substance is found depends upon its temperature and pressure. An example of matter in its three stages is best shown in the case of water, where in the solid condition we have it as ice, in the liquid condition as water, and in the gaseous condition as steam.
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By recent researches it has been found possible to liquefy gases at a very low temperature and increased pressure, with the result that now nearly all known gases as hydrogen, oxygen, and carbonic acid are to be obtained in liquid form. By still more recent experiments made by Professor Dewar, it has even become possible to liquefy the air we breathe, with the result that at a temperature of about 270 degrees below freezing-point and at an increased pressure, the otherwise invisible and gaseous air may be changed into a liquid, and poured out from one vessel into another in the same way that water can be poured out. A vessel, however, at the ordinary temperature into which such liquid air is poured, would be so hot compared with the coldness of the liquid air, that as soon as the exceedingly cold liquid air came into contact with the vessel, the comparatively hot vessel would make the liquid air to boil.
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Art. 36. Three Divisions of Matter.--Matter has been divided into three divisions, viz. solid, [48] liquid, and gaseous. These divisions are each known by characteristic qualities, which separate the one division from another. At the same time, it is possible for matter to pass from one division into another, as for example in the case of water, which may exist in solid, liquid, and gaseous form. In view of the recent researches of Sir. Wm. Crookes and Professor J. J. Thompson, it is very probable that before long we shall have to add a fourth division to matter, which we should have to call ultra-gaseous form, or it may possibly be the aetherial form. If it should prove to be true that Aether is matter, and possesses the essential qualities of matter as suggested by Lord Kelvin, then certainly we shall have reached the boundary of another great division of matter, and our conception of the divisions of matter will have to be enlarged to take in that form, so that matter would then be divided into four great divisions, viz. solid, liquid, gaseous, and aetherial.
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We will now consider the three groups as at present recognized.
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Solid.--Examples of solid bodies are common and familiar, and are typified by such things as iron, silver, copper, and lead. The chief characteristic of this condition of matter is that its condition or state is fixed, and cannot be altered without the expenditure of heat or electricity or some other form of energy.
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All solid elementary substances, with the exception of carbon, can be melted or reduced to a molten condition, although some of them require a very high temperature to effect this reduction, as, for example, platinum. When a still higher temperature is applied, the metals may be vaporized, or reduced from a molten state to that of a vaporous condition. In the case of solids, the atoms have not a free path in which to move. It must not be thought, however, that the atoms of a solid are motionless, as there is nothing absolutely motionless in the universe. In the case of the solid, the molecules which compose it, preserve their relative position and are linked together in relation to each other by the force of Cohesion.
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Liquid.--When matter is in a liquid condition, as, for example, water and oil, the condition of its molecules are not so fixed and stable as they are in the solid state. The molecules can move freely about one another, and their freedom is increased compared with their condition when in the solid state.
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As already indicated, the reduction of a solid body to a liquid or molten state may be
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effected by heat. When heat is applied to a solid body, several results follow, each of which
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is the outcome of the other.
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[49]
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1. There is an increase of temperature which is due to the increased energy of the molecules, through the added heat.
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2. There is an enlargement of the volume or size of the body, and if the addition of heat be continued, the molecular forces which hold the molecules together are broken down, and then the molecules, loosened from those forces which in the solid state have bound them together, begin to move about with greater freedom, and thus give rise to the molten condition of metals, or liquid condition of water. Thus, it is the heat which has set the atoms which compose the molecules in motion. The atoms of the solid have absorbed the heat, and the heat which has thus been absorbed has imparted vibratory energy to the atoms, which they did not possess before. Now when a substance is in the liquid state, the atoms of that substance have not only a vibratory motion, but have also a translatory motion, so that they can move in and out among one another. This is proved by the phenomenon of diffusion, where we have the case of two different-coloured liquids, for example, intermingling with each other, which is conclusive evidence of the translatory motion of the atoms in liquids.
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Gaseous.--The third state in which matter is found is the gaseous state. In this condition, the particles of matter which form the gas have the greatest possible freedom of movement, and are able to move about with inconceivable velocity. There is abundant evidence to prove that gases consist of particles of matter which are perfectly free, and are able to fly about in all directions. The simplest proof is obtained by mixing two gases together, as, for example, when any gaseous substance is allowed to mix with the air of a room, when we find that the particular gas soon mixes itself thoroughly with all the air in the room. This process of mixing is known as Diffusion, and the lighter a gas is, the more quickly does it diffuse itself. The rate of movement of the various particles is varied, by reason of the encounters which each particle undergoes from time to time. Through experiments made by Joule, he arrived at the conclusion that particles of hydrogen attained a velocity of 6055 feet per second at 0° C., which is a velocity much greater than that of a cannon-ball. In spite of the enormous velocity with which a particle of hydrogen would move, there are such a large number of particles in a single cubic inch of space, that no one particle has an absolutely free path from the one side of the enclosed space to the other. To this constant movement of the individual particles is due the elasticity or pressure of gases. The outward pressure which they exert on any body which encloses the gas is caused by the total effect of the
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impact of the particles, and is proportional to the sum of their masses multiplied into the square of their velocities. If we halve the enclosed space, then we should double the number [50] of impacts in a given time, so that the number of impacts is inversely as the volume of the gas. This is equivalent to the statement, that the pressure of a gas varies inversely as its volume, which is Boyle and Marriotte's Law.
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Art. 37. Matter is Gravitative.--If there is one property which is essentially characteristic to all matter, it is that all matter is gravitative. To this rule there is no exception, as the universal Law of Attraction states that “every particle of matter attracts every other particle.” Thus, wherever in the whole universe there is a particle of matter of any kind or sort, whether such matter be solid, liquid, or gaseous, there the force of attraction will be exerted with a force proportionate to the mass of the particle, and inversely as the square of the distance between the attracted particles.
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Gravitation, then, is a property which is essentially inherent in matter, and any substance which is termed matter, or fulfils the conditions that govern matter, must be gravitative, whatever other property it may, or may not, possess. Unless this be so, we should have a violation of the universal Law of Gravitation, which would cease at once to be a universal law, for instead of reading “every particle of matter attracts every other particle,” we should have to say that “some particles of matter attract some other particles,” which would be a violation of that universal law which, through the genius of Newton, has given to the universe an unity from the philosophical standpoint that it did not possess before.
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Some matter may, or may not be elastic; it may, or may not be solid, or liquid, or gaseous; but there is this fact regarding matter which is absolutely undeniable, and that is, “All matter is gravitative.”
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That this is true of each and all kinds of matter has been proved by direct experiment times
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without number, and the constant application of the law to all forms of matter is a fact
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observable from the phenomena incidental to every-day life. Astronomical observation
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teaches us also, that all stars, suns, planets, satellites, and comets are subject to this great
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Law of Gravitation, as indeed they must be if they are composed of matter. That they are all
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composed of exactly similar elements of which the earth is composed, has been proved
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again and again by spectroscopic analysis, which teaches that hydrogen, iron, and calcium,
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etc., are to be found in distant stars and nebulae, as they are equally to be found in the
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composition of the earth. Thus throughout the wide universe so far as observation and
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experiment can teach us, we learn that without any exception, everything that is termed
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matter is subject to this universal Law of Gravitation.
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[51]
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Art. 38. Matter possesses Density.--Density is that property of matter which decides the weight of a body per unit of volume.
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The density of any substance may be shown in several ways. It may denote, first of all, the number of molecules in a given body. Let us take as an illustration, the case of air being forced into a vessel of a given size, say one cubic foot capacity. We will suppose that in such a vessel there are 1,000,000 molecules. If we pump in a quantity of air equal to the amount it contained at first, then it is obvious that we have doubled the number of molecules in the same vessel, and therefore we say we have doubled the density. Not only so, but the weight of the air in the vessel will have been doubled. Looked at from this standpoint, density means the number of molecules in unit volume such as a cubic inch, or cubic centimetre.
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Again, as has already been shown in Art. 35, the different elements have different atomic weights. Thus an atom of carbon weighs twelve times as much as an atom of hydrogen, that is to say, there are twelve times as much matter by weight in an atom of carbon as there is in an atom of hydrogen, so that it would take twelve times as many hydrogen atoms to weigh a
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pound as compared with the number of atoms of carbon. This is only another way of stating that carbon has twelve times the density of hydrogen. If we compare lead and silver with hydrogen in the same way, we find that the density is 206 times and 107 times greater than that of hydrogen.
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Thus, it may be seen, that all matter possesses density, and that that density depends partly upon its atomic constitution. If the molecule of matter is composed of atoms whose atomic weights are very large compared with that of hydrogen, as iron, silver, lead and gold, then the molecules will have a much greater density, than a molecule formed of oxygen and hydrogen, i. e. water. This property of the density of matter plays a most important part in the transmission of any kind of wave-motion.
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Art. 39. Matter possesses Elasticity.--Matter possesses elasticity. Elasticity is that property of matter which enables all bodies to resume their original shape, when the pressure which has caused the alteration of shape has been removed.
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For example, suppose an ivory ball be dropped upon a marble table, or any other hard surface. It will then rebound, and rise almost to the same height from which it was dropped. If the surface upon which it fell was first covered with blacklead, a circular spot of lead will be found on the ivory ball. From this fact, we arrive at the conclusion that when the ball came into contact with the table, at the moment of contact it was flattened, and then owing [52] to its elasticity it rebounded into the air again.
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Now the measure of the elasticity of a body is proportionate to the velocity of the wavemotion which it can transmit. A good illustration of the transmission of wave-motion may be shown with a number of ivory bagatelle or billiard balls. If eight or more of these be put in a row, all touching each other, and a single ball be placed about an inch or so away from the others in a straight line with them, then when the single ball is struck with a cue against the other eight, the motion of the single ball is transmitted by each one of the eight successively with such rapidity, that the end ball would be set in motion in a quicker time than a single ball would take to reach the end ball, if it had been free to move along without encountering any opposition.
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It is a fact capable of demonstration, that the smaller the particle of matter, the greater will be its vibratory motion. Thus the particles of air are very, very small, and consequently air is found to be very elastic, and allows sound to be transmitted through it with comparatively great velocity, some sounds travelling at the rate of over 1000 feet per second.
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A most important factor in determining the propagation of any wave-motion, through a gas or solid, is the relationship of the elasticity of the gas or solid to its density. Suffice to say, that the velocity of any wave-motion is determined by the relation of the elasticity to the density. For example, sound, which is a wave-motion of the air, can not only be transmitted through gaseous bodies as air, but also through liquids and solids. Sound travels faster through solids than through liquids, and faster through liquids than through gases. In liquids, the relation of the elasticity to density is greater than in air, and in solids the relation is greater still. Therefore sound travels much faster in liquids than in gases, and faster in solids than in liquids.
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This is the reason why a train can be heard coming if the ear is put to the railway-line, when no indication of its approach is given to the ear by the atmosphere. Some examples of the velocities of sound through different substances are as follows--
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Gases O. C. feet
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Liquids. feet
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Solids feet
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Air 1090 per sec. Oxygen 1040 " "
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Water
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4708
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per
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sec.
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(8° C.).
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Alcohol 4218 "
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"
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(20° C.).
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Gold 5717 per sec. Silver 8553 " "
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Art. 40. Matter possesses Inertia.--Inertia is that property of matter, by which matter cannot of itself alter, or change its state of motion, or of rest.
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Newton's first law of motion states that a body at rest remains at rest until some force or [53] motion acts upon it. If a stone be dropped from a balloon, the stone does not fall because of any property which it possesses, but because the force of gravity acts upon it. If it were possible to eliminate this force of gravity, then if there were no other force which could act upon the stone, it would remain suspended in space.
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The inertia of a body is equal to the mass of that body, or the amount of matter in the body as measured by gravity, so that if a body is halved, its inertia will be halved also, and if doubled, its inertia will be doubled also. As the inertia of matter opposes all kinds of motion, the amount of force required to overcome the inertia of a body is proportionate to its mass. So that if the mass of a body is doubled, then twice the force would be required to move it, while if the body were halved, half the force would suffice to do it.
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Inertia is possessed quite as much by a moving body as a body at rest. The definition given points this out, as it states that matter cannot of itself change its state of motion. If a body therefore is in motion, it requires a certain amount of resistance to bring the body to a state of rest, or the loss of an equal amount of energy, by friction or otherwise, equal to the quantity which it absorbed in order for it to be set in motion.
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We get numerous examples of this property of the inertia of bodies in our daily experience. Many of the accidents that befall people in various ways are due to this property of the inertia of matter. A cyclist is riding a machine down-hill, and loses control over his machine, with the result that he runs into a wall, and is killed. Now what has happened? The cyclist has participated in the motion of the machine, with the result that when the machine has been suddenly stopped, the body has been thrown forward owing to the momentum it had acquired.
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We are constantly being affected by the property of inertia of matter, in tram and train and
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bus. Whenever any of these are suddenly stopped, or suddenly started, we are thrown either
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backward or forward, owing to the body either not having acquired the motion of the train,
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or, having acquired it, is unable to lose its motion as quickly as the train, and is therefore
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thrown forward.
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[54]
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CHAPTER IV
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AETHER IS MATTER
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Art. 42. Aether is Matter.--The hypothesis of an Aether which fills all space was made in order that scientists might be able to account for certain phenomena of Light, which otherwise were difficult to account for. Its existence is demanded not only for the phenomena of Light, and Heat, but, in view of the comparatively recent researches of Hertz on “Electric Waves,” of Electricity also.
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The Aetherial Medium is generally assumed to be that fundamental medium, by means of which possibly all the properties of matter, and all the phenomena of motion of the universe are to be explained. Light and Heat have been proved to be due to the periodic wave-motion of this universal Aether, while from the investigations and researches of such men as Clerk Maxwell, Poynting, Thompson and Hertz, it has been proved that electro-magnetic phenomena are due to this same medium.
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Several different forms of Aether have been postulated by various philosophers from time to time, but the only Aether that has survived, is that which was first conceived by Huyghens to explain the phenomena of Light, though it was Thomas Young who finally succeeded in placing the conception of the Aether on a sound basis. Each discovery of science has only strengthened the hypothesis and existence of the Aether, the latest discovery, that of wireless telegraphy so successfully developed by Signor Marconi, being attributed to the electromagnetic properties of this self-same Aether.
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It has already been pointed out that Newton endeavoured to account for Gravitation by the pressure of the Aether. If, therefore, Gravitation be really due to this universal medium it becomes necessary to ask ourselves, What are the properties and characteristic qualities of this wonderful medium? What then is Aether, and what its properties?
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It has already been pointed out in Art. 29 that Aether is matter. Such an assumption is
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strictly in accordance with the Rules of Philosophy, quoted in Chap. I.
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[55]
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Not only is this hypothesis a simple one, but it is also in accord with all our experience and observation.
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It is a simple supposition, because, unless Aether is assumed to be matter, then, instead of the universe being composed of two classes of things, matter and motion, we have to add a third class, which we call Aether. It can be readily seen, that by the introduction of a third class into the composition of the universe, such an addition, instead of simplifying the constitution of the universe, adds greater complexity to the same.
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By accepting the hypothesis that Aether is matter, we do away with the third class of essentials in the universe, and so reduce the number to two classes. If we could go one step further, and prove that instead of there being two classes of things in the universe, there was only one group, and show that all material things, and all phenomena could come under the head of either matter, or motion, then we should have reduced the universe to the simplest conception possible. As, however, it is not possible, at least in our present state of knowledge, for us to come to this fundamental and simple hypothesis of unity for the entire universe, we must accept the next simpler solution, and affirm that the universe is composed of two classes of things, viz. matter and motion, and this as I have already shown is a simpler classification than by putting Aether into a class by itself, and therefore is in accord with our first Rule of Philosophy.
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Again, it is entirely in accord with our second Rule of Philosophy, as it in no way violates the results of experiment, experience, or observation. Look where we will, or at what we will, whatever we see, touch, taste, or smell is termed matter. The burning sun, the glowing star, the flying meteor, the glowing comet, the earth, our own island home, the towering rock, the wide ocean, the running river, the green trees of the forest, the tiny insect, the lordly elephant, all animals, plants, and our own physical body, all are composed of matter, either in solid, liquid or gaseous form. Therefore when we affirm that Aether is matter, the affirmation is strictly in accordance with the elementary principles of Philosophy, and in no way violates their rules or laws. To affirm that Aether is not matter, is to affirm something contrary to all experience, unless it be affirmed that Aether is motion, for which assumption the evidence is not nearly so strong or conclusive as that it is matter. Therefore the objector to this assumption is himself unphilosophical, in that he postulates or supposes that the
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Aether is a medium, with qualities which lie altogether outside the range of our experience and observation.
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There is a growing conviction in the minds of scientific men, that Aether belongs to that group of things which we describe by the term matter. Lord Kelvin in giving an address to [56] the British Association, 1901, on “Clustering of Gravitational Matter in any part of the Universe,” said: “We are all convinced with our President (Professor Rucker) that Aether is Matter. Aether we relegate to a distinct species of matter which has inertia, rigidity, elasticity, compressibility, but not heaviness.”
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Dr. Larmor in Aether and Matter writes: “Matter must be constituted of isolated portions, each of which is of necessity a permanent nucleus belonging to the Aether, of some such type as is represented for example by a minute vortex ring in a perfect fluid.”
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Faraday in relation to this subject writes (Exp. Res., vol. ii.): “The view now stated of the composition of matter would seem to involve the conclusion that matter fills all space, or at least all space to which Gravitation extends, including the sun and its system, for Gravitation is a property of matter dependable on a certain Force, and it is this Force which constitutes matter.” As the Aether fills all space, including the solar system, therefore, according to Faraday, “Aether must also be Matter.”
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By the hypothesis that Aether is matter, with all the properties that such a hypothesis logically gives to Aether, I venture to premise that the third Rule of Philosophy will be fulfilled, and that there is no phenomenon of the astronomical world, and no part of the universal Law of Gravitation which such a hypothesis will fail to account for on a satisfactory physical basis. For the first time a physical explanation will be given to Newton's Laws of Motion, at least to those laws which are strictly in accordance with the first and second Rules of Philosophy. For the first time a physical conception will be given to all Kepler's Laws, and what the mathematical Laws of Gravitation have done to Kepler's Laws, in giving them a mathematical basis, the simple hypothesis that Aether is matter, with all that is logically involved therein, will do for the same laws from the physical standpoint. For the first time a physical conception will be given to the Centrifugal and Centripetal Forces, which are the complement and the counterpart of each other, that physical conception being the outcome of the same hypothesis that Aether is matter.
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In addition to this, light is thrown upon such problems as are referred to by Lord Kelvin
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(Phil. Mag., July 1902) in his paper on “Clouds on the Undulatory Theory of Light,” and
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further light is given to some theories of Electricity advanced by such men as Faraday,
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Clerk Maxwell, and Professor Thompson. I venture to think, therefore, that the hypothesis
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advanced, and the conception put forward that Aether is matter, is philosophically correct,
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and is warranted by the results that arise out of such a hypothesis.
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[57]
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It may be thought by some that the hypothesis that I have advanced is already conceded, and that the fact that Aether is matter is already admitted by scientists and advanced thinkers generally. But such an idea is only partly correct. It is already admitted by some of our most advanced scientists that Aether is matter, but that admission is only carried partially to its logical conclusion.
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Lord Kelvin in an address to the British Association, 1901, gave utterance to the following remarks on the relation of Aether to Matter: “We are convinced with our President (Professor Rucker) that Aether is Matter, but we are forced to say that the properties of Matter are not to be looked for in Aether, as generally known to us by action resulting from force between atoms of Matter and atoms of Aether. Here I am illogical when I say between Matter and Aether, as if Aether were not Matter. Aether we relegate to a distinct species of Matter which has inertia, rigidity, elasticity, compressibility, but not heaviness.”
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From a quotation of this kind, which is from the lips of one of the keenest intellects of the present time, I think I am justified when I make the statement, that it is not conceded that Aether is matter, with all that that concession logically involves. Because, as Lord Kelvin points out, though it is admitted that Aether is matter, yet that admission is only a qualified admission, and not one which carries with it all the properties that essentially belong to matter, or an admission which includes the fact that Aether is gravitative, that is, subject to Gravitation. To be strictly logical and philosophical, in the statement that Aether is matter, it must be conceded not only that Aether is subject to such properties as elasticity, inertia, and compressibility, but that it is also gravitative or possesses weight. For either Aether is matter, or it is not matter.
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It cannot be both at one and the same time. Such a conception is altogether opposed to that simplicity which is the chief characteristic of Nature as pointed out by Newton.
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If therefore Aether be matter, then, to be strictly logical and philosophical, it must be conceded that Aether is gravitative, as well as having the other properties of matter, as elasticity and inertia, etc. Unless this is conceded, then we have the anomaly in Nature of matter, which is not matter, because it violates the very principles which above all others decide what is matter, viz., “That every particle of matter attracts every other particle,” etc., that is, that it is gravitative. Thus by supposing that the Aether is matter, and yet not being gravitative, all the Rules of Philosophy are violated, as such a hypothesis is opposed to both the first and second Rules of Philosophy, and is contrary to all observation and experience. If Aether therefore be matter, as is conceded by the most advanced thinkers of the time, then [58] it follows that the only logical and philosophical conclusion that can be arrived at is, that it is also subject to those properties which are the chief characteristics of all matter. These properties may be classified as follows: atomicity, gravitation, density, elasticity, inertia, and compressibility.
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Art. 43. Aether is Universal.--Young in his first Hypothesis on the Aether medium states that, “A Luminiferous Aether pervades the Universe rare and elastic in a high degree” (Phil. Tran., 1802).
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As Young points out, this invisible and elastic Aether fills all space and floods the universe at large. In it suns blaze, stars shine, worlds and planets roll, meteors flash, and comets rush in their mysterious flight. In it all material and physical things exist, for it is to them not only the primary medium of their existence, but, just as the infinite and ever-active energy of the Divine is to the universe in its entirety and fulness, the exciting and stimulating spirit of its energies and powers, so this aetherial ocean is to the material and physical universe, the exciting and stimulating medium of all its activities, energies, and powers; and without which, though all material and physical things were endowed with the varied capacities of their kind or life, yet they could neither exert nor exercise them, nor even exhibit the simple activity of motion. Hence everywhere, where material and physical things are, there, as the medium of their existence and energy, the Aether is; and where the Aether is not, no material or physical thing is, or can be. That the Aether is universal is proved by the phenomena of light. Light-waves have a velocity of about 186,000 miles per second. Now the distance of the sun from the earth is about 92,000,000 of miles, so that light takes about eight minutes and a half to travel from the sun to the earth.
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A ray of light from the nearest fixed star takes about three and a half years to reach the earth, while there are some stars so far away that astronomers tell us, that though light travels with so great a velocity, yet it would take several thousand years to reach the earth. This fact implies that throughout boundless space there is to be found this aetherial medium. Thus interplanetary and interstellar space is not empty, but is filled with this ever-present, all-pervading Aether; and not only so, but every particle of matter in the universe is surrounded by this universal Aether, which forms the exciting and stimulating medium of
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all the activities, energies, and motions of all Matter. Thus the Aether is both universal and infinite in its extent.
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Clerk Maxwell, in his paper on “Action at a Distance” (Collected Works, by Niven), with [59] reference to the universality of the Aether, writes: “The vast interplanetary and interstellar regions will no longer be regarded as waste places in the universe, which the Creator has not seen fit to fill with the symbols of the manifold order of His Kingdom. We shall find them to be full of this wonderful medium, so full, that no human power can remove it from the smallest portion of space, or produce the slightest flaw in its infinite continuity. It extends unbroken from star to star, and when a molecule of hydrogen vibrates in the Dog Star, the medium receives the impulses of those vibrations, and transmits them to distant worlds. But the medium has other functions besides bearing light from world to world, and giving evidence of the absolute unity of the material system of the universe. Its minute parts may have rotatory as well as vibratory motions, and the axes of rotation form those lines of magnetic force which extend in unbroken continuity into regions which no eye has seen, and which, by their action on our magnets, are telling us in language not yet interpreted what is going on in the hidden world from century to century.” Now I premise, that in the theory of the Aether to be submitted in this work, the physical interpretation of this statement of Maxwell's will receive its literal fulfilment.
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Art. 44. Aether is Atomic.--If there is one fundamental truth which is applicable to all matter, it is, that all matter is atomic.
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Professor Rucker, in his Presidential Address to the British Association of 1901, in dealing with this question, said: “The believer in the atomic theory asserts that matter exists in a particular state, that it consists of parts which are separate and distinct from one another, and as such are capable of independent movement. It is certain that matter consists of discrete parts in a state of motion, which can penetrate into spaces between the corresponding parts of surrounding bodies. Every great advance in chemical knowledge during the last ninety years finds its interpretation in Dalton's Atomic Theory.”
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From such an authority as this, and from the facts which he gave in his dealing with the question, we are bound to admit that all matter is atomic. That being granted, when the statement is made, therefore, that Aether is matter, the only logical conclusion that can be arrived at, with reference to the question of the atomicity of the Aether, is, that Aether is also atomic. Unless this be conceded, we have the first and second rules of our Philosophy violated, as an atomless Aether is opposed to that simplicity of conception, which is an essential requirement of all hypotheses, and is moreover contrary to that presumptive evidence gathered from observation and experiment, which teaches us that all matter is atomic. If it be argued, that it is impossible to decide upon a question as to the atomicity of [60] the Aether, my reply is that the same argument may reasonably be applied to all matter. But, as Professor Rucker stated, all the evidence on matter points out and supports the theory of its atomicity, and, therefore, the only logical and philosophical conclusion is, that Aether is atomic also. Again, it may be suggested that we cannot see or touch an atom of Aether, and that it is not only invisible, but apparently incapable of being made sensible to our senses. In reply to that, as I have already shown in Art. 31, that objection can be equally used against an atom of hydrogen, or an atom of oxygen. Does any one doubt the existence of the hydrogen atom or the atom of oxygen, because it is invisible to the sense of sight, or cannot be revealed to the limited sense of touch? Certainly not! By the same reasoning, it is just as illogical to deny the existence of an atom of Aether because it cannot be seen or felt, as it is to deny the existence of an atom of hydrogen or oxygen. An atom of Aether reveals itself to the senses in the same way that an atom of hydrogen or oxygen does, that is, by the force or energy which it exerts. Its vibrations can be manifested to the body in the form of heat, while the undulatory motion which the aetherial atoms transmit in the form of light, reveal
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the presence of the aetherial atom to the sense of sight. The question at once arises as to what constitutes an aetherial atom, what are its properties and motions?
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Now, in order for us to enter successfully into this speculative region, it is essential that we should, as far as possible, conform to the Rules of Philosophy, and endeavour to gain some conception of an aetherial atom from the results of experience and observation. In doing this, we are at once confronted with the difficulty, that no one has ever seen an atom, or analyzed the properties of one. Actual experiment has revealed nothing absolutely certain as to the ultimate character of an atom, and if this be true of the atoms of matter, then it must also be true of an aetherial atom. It would seem at first, therefore, that we have no results of experiment, or observation, by which we may be guided in formulating a right conception as to the constitution of an aetherial atom, and therefore we are thrown simply into the regions of speculation as to its constitution and properties.
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But I venture to suggest, that there is a method which is strictly philosophical in its application, by which we may possibly arrive at a clear conception of an aetherial atom. All great discoveries of science have been the outcome of applying the principle, that what is true of the visible and seen, is true of the invisible and unseen; that what is true of the known, is true of the unknown; that the principles and laws which govern the small also [61] govern the large and the great. It was thus that Newton discovered his great Law of Gravitation, as he was able from the falling of an apple, to rise to the application of the same principle to our satellite the moon, and this led him on to the discovery of the Law of Gravitation.
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If, therefore, in Philosophy, the laws governing the small things are also applicable to the great things, then the converse equally holds good, that the laws governing great things are the reflex of the laws which govern the small things. For example, the laws which govern the light and heat of the sun are the same which govern the light and heat of a candle or a glow-worm; and the laws which govern a planet or world are the same as those which govern an atom. Thus a planet or world, which is simply an agglomeration of atoms, may reveal to us in its motions and laws, what are the motions and laws which govern the atomic world.
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In looking at the properties and motions of a planet, therefore, as our earth for example, we find that a planet is a sphere, or more correctly an oblate spheroid; that the earth or planet is a magnet possessing polarity, having a north and south pole; that it has rotation on an axis, in addition to translation in an orbit, and that it is subject to the universal Law of Gravitation.
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If, therefore, it holds good in Philosophy, that the small things are the index to the greater, and that the laws governing the small things also govern the greater, then the converse holds good, that what is true of the large is true of the small, and that the laws governing the great also govern the small.
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So that gathering up those chief properties of the earth to which I have already referred, and applying them to an aetherial atom, or any other atom if necessary, we arrive at the conclusion that an atom must be spherical in shape, must possess rotation, and must have an orbit, must possess polarity, and also be subject to the universal Law of Gravitation.
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Here, then, we have given to us certain data by which we are enabled to form our conception of an atom, aetherial or otherwise. The question arises, whether, among the forms of atoms which have been devised by scientists, any of the atoms so conceived fulfil all, or nearly all of these requirements. We have Boscovitch's Atom, the Hard Atom of Lucretius, and the more recent conception of the Vortex Atom of Lord Kelvin. Of all the hypotheses in regard to the ultimate nature and constitution of an atom, the Vortex Theory probably is the one which offers to the mind the simplest conception of an aetherial atom.
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The Vortex Ring Atom, however, which has been so fully developed by Lord Kelvin, hardly fulfils all the requirements of an aetherial atom. In the first place it is not spherical in shape, [62] and I hold that to be one of the fundamental bases of the aetherial atom. Then, in the next place it does not, so far as I can read, possess polarity; that is, it does not possess a north and south pole, through being a magnet in the same way as the earth is a magnet. We must therefore look for a modification of the vortex ring to discover the constitution of our aetherial atom, and I venture to think that such a modification is to be found in Professor Hill's conception of a Spherical Vortex Atom (Phil. Trans., 1894).
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In the conception there put forward, and mathematically worked out, Professor Hill showed that his spherical vortex atom possessed similar properties and characteristics to the vortex rings of Lord Kelvin. So that the spherical vortex atom would possess rotation on an axis, and it would be a magnet, as I shall prove later on, because it rotates in an electro-magnetic medium. It would possess elasticity, compressibility, inertia, and, further, would possess a certain amount of mass. That mass might be infinitely small, but nevertheless it would possess mass of an infinitesimal order.
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Further, if we are to be strictly correct, in our analogy between the earth and the aetherial atom, its polar diameter must be shorter than its equatorial diameter, as that is one of the facts observable regarding the shape of our earth, so that the shape of the aetherial atom will not be strictly spherical, but its actual shape would be that of an oblate spheroid, being flatter at the poles, and bulging out in the equatorial regions.
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This exact analogy between the earth and an aetherial atom may not at present seem of very great importance, but its importance will be seen later on, when we come to deal with the phenomena of heat, light, and electricity.
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Here, then, is our conception of an aetherial atom in the rough, based not upon any imaginative hypothesis, but rather upon that strict conformity to observation and experience, which is the very groundwork of all true Philosophy.
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For, after all, what is the earth but an atom on a large scale? In comparison with illimitable space, with its infinite distances, that can alone be measured by the velocity of light, our own earth is but a speck of dust, a very atom that helps to make up the universe, and, as such, should teach us the shape and properties of other atoms of which the same universe is composed.
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We have therefore to conceive of the all-space-pervading Aether as being composed of infinitesimal portions of Aether, which are nearly spherical in shape, and ever in a state of rotation; this state of rotation differentiating the atom of Aether from the free Aether, if such an entity exists. So that an atom of Aether would simply be an infinitesimal portion of the [63] Aether in a state of rotation.
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If, by any means, we could stop the rotation, we should at once destroy the atom, in the same way that the smoke vortex ring would cease to be a ring, if its rotation were stopped. The cessation of the rotation I, however, believe to be impossible. So that even in the ultimate atom of that universal medium the Aether, we have an illustration of the combination of those two forms which are inseparably connected throughout the whole universe, viz. matter and motion, and it is the combination of these two that gives to the aetherial atom its form, and its very existence, without which it has no life, and ceases to exist.
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It may be necessary in the development of this work as we proceed, to slightly modify our conception of the aetherial atom, but that modification will rather be of a constructive character, than a destructive one. There may also be certain objections to meet and explain away when we deal with the phenomena of light, heat, and electricity, and Gravitation, and
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the part which the aetherial atom plays in those phenomena, but these objections I hope to meet and answer as they arise.
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The atomicity of the Aether has already been suggested by such scientists as Clerk Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, Dr. Larmor, and Professors Lodge and J. J. Thompson. Clerk Maxwell, in an article on “Action at a Distance,”[3] referring to the atomicity of the Aether, writes: “Its minute parts may have rotatory as well as vibratory motions, and the axes of rotation may form those lines of magnetic force which extend in unbroken continuity into regions which no eye has seen.” I premise that I will conclusively prove that this statement finds its literal fulfilment in the theory of the Aether that will be developed in this work.
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Lord Kelvin, in several articles on “Vortex Motion” in the Philosophical Magazines of recent years, has mathematically dealt with the Aether from the atomic standpoint, and has endeavoured to prove that the Aether medium is composed of vortex rings, but he was unable to come to any satisfactory conclusion. With the theory that Aether is matter, and therefore possesses mass, his conception is now brought within the range of physical explanation, as well as mathematical calculation.
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Dr. Larmor, in his Aether and Matter, has successfully applied the principle of the atomicity to the Aether, on what is termed the “Electron” basis. He states that an electron is nothing more or less than “a point singularity in the electro-dynamic and optical Aether.” So that our aetherial atom is practically synonymous with Dr. Larmor's electron. Again, Dr. Larmor, in the same work, states that “the atomicity of electricity is coming within the scope of direct [64] experiment.”[4] But Professor Lodge, in his Modern Views of Electricity, states that “the Aether is composed of positive and negative electricity, the combination of these two forming the Aether medium.”[5] Now, if the Aether is composed of positive and negative electricity, and the atomicity of electricity is coming within the scope of direct experiment, it follows as a matter of necessity that the atomicity of Aether and the atomicity of electricity are one and the same, and therefore the atomicity of Aether is coming within the scope of direct experiment. Professor J. J. Thompson, who has also attacked the problem of the atomicity of electricity, speaks of “corpuscles” which are the actual carriers of the positive and negative electricity, in the atoms of the various elements. These corpuscles therefore indicate the fact that electricity has an atomic basis.
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Now if there is any such identity between Aether and electricity, as there undoubtedly is, and electricity has an atomic basis, then the atomicity of the Aether follows as a matter of course, otherwise we shall have a medium composed of atoms which is itself not atomic, which conclusion is absurd and therefore unphilosophical. So that the most recent researches into electricity confirm and establish the atomicity of the Aether.
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[3] Collected Works, by Niven.
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[4] Preface to Aether and Matter.
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[5] Page 348.
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Art. 45. Aether is Gravitative.--Young, in the Philosophical Trans. of 1802, in regard to this question, states in his Fourth Hypothesis: “All material bodies have an attraction for the aetherial medium, by means of which it is accumulated within their substance, and for a small distance around them, in a state of greater density, but not greater elasticity.” He adds that “this fourth hypothesis is opposed to that of Newton's.”
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Scientific research has justified the conception of his first three hypotheses with respect to the universality, elasticity and vibrations of the aetherial medium, but up to the present I am not aware that science has accepted his fourth hypothesis.
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I propose to show how, from a strictly philosophical and logical standpoint, his fourth hypothesis is just as true as his first three hypotheses, and that it henceforth passes out of the realm of the hypothetical into the realms of fact and science, not only by philosophical reasoning, but by actual experiment made by some of the most advanced scientists of the present time.
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Let us consider the question first from the standpoint of the Rules of Philosophy. Our first Rule of Philosophy states, that any hypothesis must be simple in connection. Now I put it to any intelligent man, and ask him which is the simpler conception of Aether? To affirm that Aether is matter, and therefore subject to the properties of matter, as elasticity, density, inertia and Gravitation, or to affirm that Aether is matter, but while it is subject to some of [65] the properties of matter, as elasticity, density and inertia, it is not subject to the very property which of all properties is the most fundamental, viz. Gravitation. There can, in my opinion, only be one answer to the question, so that, when we affirm that Aether is matter, we are compelled to affirm, in order to conform to the first Rule of Philosophy, that it is gravitative also. Faraday was also of the opinion that Aether was subject to the Law of Gravity, for, writing in Experimental Researches, he states: “The view now stated of the constitution of matter, would seem to involve the conclusion, that matter fills all space, or at least all space to which Gravitation extends, including the sun and its system. For Gravitation is a property of matter, dependable on a certain force, and it is this force which constitutes matter.”
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Let us also test the question by our second Rule of Philosophy, and we shall find greater evidence still for the statement that Aether is gravitative. What do experience and observation teach us with reference to matter? As we have already seen (Art. 37), if there is one truth that they teach us regarding matter, it is that it is gravitative.
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There is not the slightest evidence throughout the universe, as far as our observation can lead us to form an opinion, that there is any kind of matter which is not subject to the Law of Gravitation. Therefore to assume that Aether is matter, and yet not to assume that it is also subject to Gravitation, is to assume that which is directly opposed to the most fundamental principle of all philosophical teaching and scientific research. If Aether be matter, therefore, and yet is not gravitative, we shall have an anomaly in an otherwise universal law, as we shall have some kind of matter which fails to come within the scope of the universal Law of Gravitation.
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To be consistent, therefore, we must either cease to call Aether matter, or else admit that
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Aether, like all other matter, is gravitative. It is absolutely impossible to be strictly logical
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and admit that Aether is matter, and not to admit that it is subject to the most universal law
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that governs matter, as the Law of Gravitation distinctly states that “every particle or atom
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of matter attracts every other particle.” This universal law in view of a gravitationless
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Aether would have to be amended to “Some particles of matter attract some other particles.”
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Thus the universal Law of Gravitation ceases at once to be a universal law, and such a result
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is opposed to all experience and experiment. Again, let us apply our third Rule of
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Philosophy to this supposed gravitationless Aether, and see what the result is.
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[66]
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Our third rule states, that any hypothesis put forward must satisfactorily account for the phenomena sought to be explained and accounted for. The Aether was conceived in order to explain the phenomena of light, and one of the properties it was conceived to possess was elasticity, yet that very conception was devoid of the most fundamental property of matter, without which there is no elasticity, that is, that it was not atomic.
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I have already shown in Art. 44, that Aether is atomic, and therefore there is given to the Aether a structure which is capable of exhibiting elasticity, inertia, density, and even Gravitation, while at the same time, the conception is fully in harmony with philosophical reasoning and Newton's Rules of Philosophy.
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Let us consider the question whether Aether is, or is not gravitative, from another aspect. For several hundred years, the physical cause of Gravitation has been outstanding, while the world has held the conception that Aether is a gravitationless and frictionless medium. The earth has been rolling on in her orbit year in, year out, together with all the other planets in their annual march round the sun, and yet through all that time no one has been able to suggest, or give any satisfactory or adequate physical explanation, as to what moves the earth along.
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I am fully aware that Newton suggested and proved, that it was because of the Law of Gravitation. But I look upon that as a mathematical explanation and not as a physical one.
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Now I venture to predict this, that on the assumption of a gravitationless medium, the physical explanation so longed for will always be outstanding, as a gravitationless Aether is synonymous with a frictionless medium, and so long as we admit that there is a frictionless medium, so long will the physical cause of Gravitation, and therefore the physical cause of all the movements of the planets and comets, be outstanding and unexplained.
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If, however, instead of being illogical in our reasoning, we become logical, and affirm that Aether is matter, and because all matter is gravitative, therefore Aether is gravitative; and if, instead of being unphilosophical, we become philosophical, and affirm that because a gravitationless Aether violates both the first and second Rules of Philosophy, such a conception must be put away, and in its place a more philosophical conception must be forthcoming, which is that Aether is gravitative; then, upon such a logical and philosophical basis, I venture to premise that the great problem which is still outstanding of the cause of Gravitation, will remain outstanding no longer, and the physical cause of all the movements of all celestial bodies will be put upon a physical basis, in addition to a mathematical one. [67]
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If such a result can be arrived at by the logical and philosophical conception of a gravitative Aether, then the three Rules of Philosophy are fully satisfied, and the assumption of a gravitative Aether is warranted on a strictly philosophical basis.
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So that Thomas Young is strictly correct from a philosophical standpoint in his fourth hypothesis, when he states: “That all material bodies have an attraction for the aetherial medium, by means of which it is accumulated within their substance and for a small distance around them in a state of greater density but not greater elasticity.” He is not, however, correct when he states that though there is a greater density near the body, there is not a greater elasticity, as such an assumption is opposed to experiment and observation in relation to perfect gases, as I shall show when dealing with the elasticity of the Aether.
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Again, in view of the fact that the Aether is atomic, it can now be easily understood how it may be subject to Gravitation. The very essence of Gravitation is that atoms, or particles, attract each other. If there were no particles, or atoms, it is obvious that there would be no attraction, and therefore no Gravitation. Wherever, therefore, there are to be found atoms of any kind or sort, whether they be atoms of hydrogen, oxygen, silver or aetherial atoms, there the Law of Gravitation holds good, and attraction between these atoms is to be found. In other words, any substance which is atomic, is also gravitative. Now Aether is atomic as has been shown, and therefore from that standpoint it is also gravitative. It may, however, be objected that the assumption of gravitative properties for the Aether is after all but a speculation, and that Young's fourth hypothesis was only a hypothesis, and that the gravitating properties of the aetherial medium have never come within the scope of direct experiment, without which no hypothesis can be fully accepted.
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If such an argument be advanced against a gravitating Aether, then I must differ from those scientists who advance such an objection. My contention is that the gravitating properties of the Aether have already been made the subject of some of the most refined and delicate experiments that have been made during the past few years.
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I refer to the experiments of Michelson and Morley of America.
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For an outline and explanation of such experiments I must refer the reader to the Phil. Mag. of December 1887.
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Now what is the result of these experiments?
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I believe it is almost unanimously conceded by all scientists, that their experiments prove
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that the Aether is carried along by the earth. Let us carefully look at this conclusion and see
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what it implies in relation to the question at issue.
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[68]
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If the Aether is carried along by the earth, it necessarily follows that there is some governing law or principle which holds it to the earth, while the earth moves through space with its velocity of 68,000 miles per hour.
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Now what is that governing principle or law, which is capable of holding such an aetherial atmosphere to its central body? If we wish to be strictly philosophical, it is necessary, according to our second Rule of Philosophy, that we should not go outside experience and the analogy of Nature.
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Where is there a similar analogy in Nature to that of the Aether being carried along through space by the earth? I know of only one analogy which can be used, and that is the analogy of the atmosphere, which is also carried along by the earth through space, as it rushes on in its orbit round the sun.
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That being so, the question arises, what principle or law holds the atmosphere to the earth? for, whatever be the law which governs the atmosphere, to be consistent with the second Rule of Philosophy, we must infer that the same law also holds the Aether in its place. There is only one answer to the latter question, and that is the Law of Gravitation. If it were not for that law, and the fact that the atmosphere is subject to that law, the atmosphere would simply be swept off from its central body, the earth, as the latter rushed through space with its comparatively enormous velocity.
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The only legitimate and philosophical conclusion that we can arrive at, therefore, is that the Aether must be carried along with its central body, the earth, through being acted upon by the self-same Law of Gravitation, and for it to be so acted upon it must obviously be gravitative. It would be unphilosophical to suggest that it was held in its place by any other force, as that would be introducing a new force or law into Nature, contrary to our experience in relation to an exactly similar phenomenon of Nature.
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We have therefore, it seems to me, direct proof by actual experiment that Young's fourth hypothesis was correct, and that not only in relation to the atomic world, but also in relation to the planetary world, and the stellar world, all bodies exert an attractive influence upon the surrounding Aether, by means of which the Aether is accumulated near the surfaces of all bodies in a state of greater density, and therefore of greater elasticity.
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Let us apply this truth to the solar system, and see what we get. If it is true that the earth exerts an attractive influence upon the surrounding Aether by means of which it is held in its place relatively to the earth, then it is equally true that Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune also exert gravitating or attractive influences upon the surrounding Aether, in the same way that they do upon their own atmospheres. So that in their cases also, the surrounding Aether is carried along by them through space. Professor [69] Stokes has suggested that this is so, in order to account for the aberration of light, as we shall see later on.
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Not only so, but the sun also would have an attractive power over the Aether by means of which its aetherial atmosphere would be carried through space, as it moved along in its progress at an estimated rate of 17,000 or 18,000 miles per hour.
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I would like to point out here, that this explanation of the effect of the planets' attractive power over the surrounding Aether is only a partial one, as there are other effects directly involved in the fact that the Aether is subject to the gravitating influence of all satellites and planets.
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This is not the place, however, to go fuller into the matter, the consideration of the subject being taken up in a later chapter.
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Thus I have tried to show a gravitating Aether is strictly in accord with the three Rules of Philosophy, for it is simple in conception, is not contrary to experience, and by it I premise that it is possible to explain the physical cause of Gravitation, with all that is involved in that law.
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Once more, if Aether is gravitative, then every atom and particle in the universe, as well as every planet, and sun, and star, exert an attractive power over the Aether, so that every atom is enveloped in an atmosphere of Aether, in the same way that every planet, and sun, and star is enveloped by the aetherial atmosphere.
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The Aether, however, while it may flow through the spaces that exist between the molecules of bodies, yet is held bound to those molecules in the same way, and by exactly the same force, that holds the atmosphere to a planet or world.
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Further, if the atoms possess different masses or weights, as they do, then each atom would possess an aetherial atmosphere proportionate to its mass, with the result that an atom of carbon, with its atomic weight of 12, ought to possess a denser aetherial atmosphere than an atom of hydrogen, and so on right through the atomic scale. I need hardly point out that this conception of the Aether in relation to atoms, and molecules of bodies, will solve certain problems relating to the density of Aether in connection with matter, which problem up to the present cannot be solved by the present conception of a frictionless medium.
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That problem may be stated as follows: Does the presence of matter affect the Aether in any way, so as to load or make it denser? Professor Lodge, in Modern Views of Electricity, in relation to the density of the Aether, writes: “The neighbourhood of gross matter seems to render Aether more dense. It is difficult to suppose that it can really condense an incompressible fluid, but it may load it, or otherwise modify it, so as to produce the effect of [70] increased density.”
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In view of the fact that Aether is gravitative, the reply is to be found in the Law of Gravitation, “Every particle of matter attracts every other particle of matter, etc.,” and as Aether is matter, it will be attracted by the other matter irrespective of whether that matter be in the atomic, molecular, or planetary or stellar form. We shall see that this is so when we come to deal with the density of the Aether.
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It may be objected in relation to this aspect of Aether, that Young also asserted that the Aether flows as freely through matter, as the air flows through the trees of the forest, and that such a statement therefore contradicts his fourth proposition regarding the gravitating properties of Aether. A little reflection will, however, put a different construction on this objection.
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Let us consider the analogy from the standpoint of experience, and see what that analogy teaches us. From experience we learn that the air is gravitative, but we also learn that it is possible to be moved from place to place as winds, and that as such it can move freely between the trees of the forest, causing their boughs and leaves to tremble and bend beneath its energy and power.
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I have yet to learn, however, that while it moves between the trees as separate and distinct objects, such a movement militates or destroys its gravitating properties.
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Does the air cease to be any less gravitative, or subject to the Law of Gravity, when it is subject to certain movements, which give rise to certain currents as winds? Such an assumption is altogether opposed to philosophical reasoning.
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Whether the air is stationary or in motion, it is ever subject to the great Law of Gravitation, and accepting that as an analogy, the apparent contradiction between the oft-quoted simile of Young and his fourth hypothesis is at once removed, and from analogy we learn that it is quite possible for Aether to move between bodies because of certain currents which may be originated by heat, light or electricity, yet at the same time the existence of such currents does not violate its gravitating tendency.
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Young's fourth hypothesis is therefore in perfect harmony with his oft-quoted simile, that the Aether flows through the interstices of bodies as the wind flows through a group of trees, but like the air-currents it does not so flow unless the currents are generated by some form of energy, as heat or light, electricity or magnetism.
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From these considerations therefore we are compelled to come to the conclusion that Aether, like all other matter, is subject to the same universal Law of Gravitation. If further evidence of the gravitating tendency of the Aether were required, I would refer the reader to [71] Lord Kelvin's utterance on this subject.
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Lord Kelvin, Phil. Mag., November 1899, in relation to the Aether writes: “We are accustomed to call Aether imponderable. How do we know that it is imponderable? If we had never dealt with air except by our senses, air would be imponderable to us, but we know by experiment that a vacuum glass tube shows an increased weight when air is allowed to flow into it. We have not the slightest reason to believe that Aether is imponderable. It is just as likely to be attracted by the sun as air is. At all events the onus of proof rests with those who assert it is imponderable. I think we shall have to modify our ideas of what Gravitation is, if we have a mass spreading through space with mutual attraction between its parts, without being attracted by other bodies.”
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We have already seen in the previous article that Faraday was of opinion that the Law of Gravitation extended throughout the whole of the solar system, and as Aether fills the solar system, then obviously Aether must also be subject to the Law of Gravitation.
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Art. 46. Aether possesses Density.--That matter possesses density has already been shown in Art. 38, and on the hypothesis that Aether is matter, Aether must possess density also. This property has already been postulated for the Aether, in order to account for certain phenomena in connection with the reflection and refraction of light. Young assumed different densities for the Aether near bodies owing to its being attracted by those bodies (Art. 45). Reflection and refraction of light are produced by a change of density of the Aether. It is now generally accepted that the optical difference of bodies depends mainly on the different densities of Aether in association with those bodies. Professor Tyndall, in his Lectures on Light, writes on the density of the Aether as follows: “The density of the Aether is greater in liquids and solids than in gases, and greater in gases than in vacuo. A compressing force seems to be exerted on the Aether by the molecules of these bodies.”
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Apart, however, from the atomicity and gravitative properties of the Aether, it is difficult to understand how there can be density of the medium, and still more difficult to give a satisfactory explanation of different degrees of density for the same medium, which some scientists assume it to have.
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If, however, all that is logically included in the statement that Aether is matter, and therefore is atomic and gravitative, is conceded, then, from the analogy of our own atmosphere in relation to the earth, the density of the Aether, and different degrees of density also, is at once put upon a logical and philosophical basis, as it is brought into harmony with all [72] experience and observation, and is simple in its conception.
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On the other hand, an Aether which is not atomic or gravitative cannot possess different degrees of density, except by assuming the existence of some unknown law of which we have no knowledge, which conception is altogether opposed to the fundamental principles of simplicity, observation, and experiment as laid down not only by Newton but by every true philosopher.
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Therefore, that Aether can possess different degrees of density, is only the logical outcome of the statement that Aether is matter, seeing that such a statement without the shadow of a doubt must at least imply that it is gravitative.
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I need hardly point out, that it is much more philosophical to be able to account for the density of the Aether in a reasonable and philosophical manner, than simply to postulate for the Aether certain properties and qualities, because certain phenomena demand the existence of such properties.
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The Aether has been such a hypothetical medium, that it has been easy to postulate for it certain properties, if certain phenomena have demanded the existence of those properties.
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Thus if the Aether were required to be elastic, then elasticity was postulated for it; if more elastic, then greater elasticity was added. If density were demanded, then density was postulated, and if less or more density, less or more density was given to it.
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That method of speculation may be satisfactory up to a certain point, but no one will admit that such a method is wholly philosophical. It will be a far better method to adopt, if, in dealing with the universal Aether, we can make it conform to certain recognized laws and principles, and from the application of those well-known laws, be able to infer the exact constitution of this space-filling Aether medium.
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Now the question arises, if Aether is gravitative, what effect has the Gravitation of any body, be it an atom, or a meteor or planet, sun or star, upon the Aether in which it moves, and which surrounds it?
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That we may have some light thrown upon the matter, I would like now to take the reader to Newton's Optics, in order that he may give us his opinion as to this property of density of the Aether. In his nineteenth query Newton (Optics) asks this question--
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“Is not this medium much rarer within the dense bodies of the sun, stars, planets and comets than in the empty spaces between them, and in passing from them to great distances, doth it not grow denser and denser perpetually, and thereby cause the gravity of those great bodies towards one another, and of their part towards the bodies, every body endeavouring to go [73] from the denser parts of the medium towards the rarer?”
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Here then we have given to us an indication of what is the possible state of things in relation to the gravitation of the Aether, and all bodies in solar and stellar space. The only mistake that Newton made, was in inverting the right order of comparatively dense and rarer parts of the aetherial medium, by putting the rarer parts of the medium near to the bodies, and supposing the denser parts to be farther away in space.
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As a matter of fact, the correct view is exactly the opposite, that is, if we are to form our conception by following out those philosophical rules that Newton laid down. For either the rules are right, or his supposition is right. They cannot both be right, as his supposition is contrary to the second Rule of Philosophy, as all experience and observation from the analogy of Nature teach us that a medium enveloping any body, as planet, star or sun, is densest nearest to the body, becoming rarer the further that medium gets away from the central body. Let us take for our illustration the best example, that experience and observation afford, that of the atmosphere surrounding the earth. The analogy is so perfect, that one is almost tempted to believe that the atmosphere and the Aether are in some way
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intimately associated with each other. Some years ago Lord Kelvin was of the opinion that the Aether was but an extension of the atmosphere, though I am not certain whether he holds that view at the present time. Clerk Maxwell, writing in the Phil. Mag. in May 1861, writes: “I have deduced from this result the relation between statical or dynamical electricity, and have shown that the elasticity of the magnetic medium in air is the same as that of the luminiferous medium, if these two coexistent, coextensive, and equally elastic media are not rather one medium.”
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Now for the comparison. Both the atmosphere and Aether are matter. Both are atomic, both are gravitative, both possess elasticity, and both possess density. The atmosphere also possesses different degrees of density, so does the Aether. In the case of the atmosphere, however, experience and experiment teach us that the atmosphere is denser nearer the earth than farther away.
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When we ascend mountains, it is a matter of common knowledge that the higher we ascend, that is the further we get from the earth, the rarer the atmosphere becomes. When we ascend in balloons, we find that the air becomes so rare and so light, that the blood will flow from the nose, on account of the reduced pressure exerted on it, the pressure inside the body being greater than that outside. Now in accordance with our second Rule of Philosophy, if experience is to be any guide at all, then it most conclusively teaches us that the Aether [74] being subject to the same laws as the atmosphere, the same results inevitably follow. Therefore the Aether nearest the earth is denser than any layer immediately above it, and that layer denser than the one above it, and so on for great distances, with the result that the only conclusion we can come to in regard to the density and rarity of Aether in relation to all gravitating bodies is, that the densest part of the Aether is nearest to them, and the rarest, the farthest away from them. So that while Newton's suggestion in his nineteenth query is correct in principle, it is incorrect in application to space.
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I would like to point out here, that what is true of the earth in relation to the density of the surrounding Aether, must also be true, according to our second Rule of Philosophy, of every other planet, or sun, or star. So that every planet, satellite, every sun or star has its atmosphere, if I may so term it, of Aether, which obeys and follows the same laws as the earth's atmosphere does.
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This is a most important fact, and has a most important bearing upon the physical cause of Gravitation as applied to each planet, and sun and star, as I shall afterwards show.
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I wish now to bring the reader into contact with a Theory of Gravitation that was given to the world by Professor Challis of Cambridge, 1872. In the Philosophical Magazine of June of that year he writes: “I assume that all the active forces of Nature are different modes of pressure under different circumstances of a universal elastic Aether, which presses always proportionately to its density.”
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Now what I wish to point out is, that while Prof. Challis admits the density of the Aether, and also varying degrees of density, as he states that the Aether presses proportionately to the density, he does not show how that varying density is accounted for. If there is this varying density, then there must be some underlying principle which governs the variation in density, and I know of only one principle or law which can regulate that variation in density, and that is that Aether is gravitative, and being gravitative it not only possesses density, but also variations in density.
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Thus by admitting that Aether is gravitative, because it is matter, we have at once a satisfactory explanation for the density of the Aether and also for different degrees of density both in the atomic world, and in the planetary and stellar world.
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Art. 47. Aether is Elastic.--In Art. 39, matter was shown to be elastic, and on the assumption that Aether is matter, the elasticity of the Aether, which has been postulated for
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it by various scientists, can be logically and philosophically accounted for.
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[75]
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In view of the transmission of light through space with a definite and finite velocity, we are compelled to regard Aether as possessing elasticity, similar to that of an elastic solid body.
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If we take the analogy of sound, we find that sound is transmitted and propagated through matter, by waves of alternate condensation and rarefaction, and that transmission is regulated by the relation of the density of the medium to its elasticity. Light has been proved to be due to the undulatory wave-motions of the Aether, and in order to account for the transmission of the wave-motion, it is essential that the Aether should possess the property of elasticity.
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As Young points out in his First Hypothesis,[6] the Aether possesses this property of elasticity, but with the advance of scientific knowledge and research, the elasticity of the Aether may be said to have passed out of the hypothetical stage, into the state of actual fact and experiment. Both McCullagh and Fresnel have assumed this property of elasticity for the aetherial medium in order to account for certain phenomena of light.
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Apart, however, from the atomicity of the Aether, it is exceedingly difficult to understand how such a property can belong to it. Atoms are exceedingly small particles, possessing the property of elasticity, or the power to recover their original shape after distortion or change of shape. If the Aether therefore be atomic, as is pointed out in Art. 44, it can at once be readily understood how the Aether as a whole can possess the property of elasticity. The atoms of the Aether must be inconceivably small, as the light-waves travel with the enormous velocity of 186,000 miles per second.
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What must therefore be the atomic vibration which such a statement implies? If, on the other hand, the Aether is assumed to be continuous and non-atomic, it must be seen how exceedingly difficult it is to account for the elasticity of the Aether, as it seems absolutely impossible for a medium which is continuous, and non-atomic, to be able to transmit the waves of light with a finite velocity.
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Apart, therefore, from atomicity of some kind or other, elasticity of the Aether is an assumption philosophically incorrect, as it is contrary to that simplicity of conception laid down by Newton, and is also contrary to all experience, and thus violates the second Rule of Philosophy.
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Aether therefore must be said to be perfectly elastic; so perfectly elastic, that it is susceptible to the least touch of any natural thing, so that even an atom, so small that it cannot be seen with the most powerful microscope, yet so elastic is this Aether medium, that the least motion or vibration of one of these atoms, though the motion did not exceed [76] the 20- or 40-millionth part of an inch, yet even this would create in the aetherial ocean, Aether-waves, just as a body moving in water creates water-waves, which, radiating from the place of their birth, beget and create others, the process continuing until they reach the margin of the water in which they were generated. It is precisely so with these Aetherwaves, when once generated and set in motion. They create others, the process being continued and perpetuated; and, unless arrested in their course, may continue until they reach the very limits and confines of material immensity and space.
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It is, perhaps, only necessary to say, regarding the perfection of the elasticity of the Aether medium, that though it takes from 40,000 to 69,000 waves to complete the space of one inch in extent, yet it is done with such miraculous rapidity, as to speed the distance of 186,000 miles in the short space of a second of time; or, taking the number of Aether-waves to complete an inch as 50,000, its elasticity is such that it makes 50,000 × 186,000 × 12 × 5280 vibrations in one second of time.
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We have already seen in Art. 39, that according to Boyle and Marriotte's Law, the velocity of a wave-motion, as sound in the air, is determined by the relation of the elasticity of the medium to its density. If the temperature of the atmosphere remains the same, then the elasticity varies in the same proportion as its density.
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According to Art. 45, Aether is gravitative, and that fact produces different degrees of density in the aetherial atmosphere of an atom or planet or meteor, sun or star; that part of the Aether being densest nearest the central body, and rarer the further we go away from that body.
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Now the question at once arises, what is the effect of the increased density of the Aether near the body upon the elasticity of the Aether?
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From the analogy of sound in air, we arrive at the conclusion that Boyle and Marriotte's Law equally applies to the Aether, as it does to the atmosphere of any planet. That is, if the temperature of any stratum or layer of the Aether remains the same, then the elasticity of the aetherial medium in that layer is proportionate to its density, so that while the gravitating property of the Aether makes it denser nearest the central body, the fact that the elasticity is proportionate to the density, does not affect the transmission of any wave-motion.
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[6] Phil. Trans., 1802.
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Art. 48. Aether possesses Inertia.--From Art. 40 we have seen that all matter possesses
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inertia, inertia being that property of matter by which it cannot of itself change its state of
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motion or of rest.
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[77]
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If Aether be matter, therefore, then it must also possess inertia. This property of inertia is already postulated for Aether by scientists, and to that extent is conformable to the Rules of Philosophy. Professor Tyndall, with reference to the inertia of the Aether, writes: “The motion of Aether communicated to material substances throws them into motion. It must be therefore itself a substance. Aether is a substance endowed with inertia, and capable, in accordance with the established laws of motion, of imparting its motion to other substances.”[7]
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Again, Lord Kelvin in his Address to the British Association, 1901, on the “Clustering of Gravitational Matter in any part of the Universe,” states: “Aether we relegate to a distinct species of matter which has inertia, etc.” Aether, therefore, according to Tyndall, “is a substance or medium endowed with inertia, and capable, in accordance with Newton's Laws of Motion, of imparting its motion to other substances.”
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If, however, the Aether is frictionless, as has generally been supposed, then it cannot possess inertia, because to the extent that a body possesses inertia, to that extent it is opposed to being frictionless.
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Inertia is really the equivalent of mass, or the amount of matter measured by gravity, and if Aether possesses mass in any sense at all, as it must do if it is matter, then, possessing mass or weight, it must offer resistance to any body moving through it, and to that extent cannot be frictionless. To suppose that the Aether is frictionless, and yet possesses inertia, is to suppose something altogether opposed to all the Rules of Philosophy and therefore of experience.
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I have already shown that a frictionless medium is opposed to all philosophy and experience, and is an anomaly in the universe.
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On the strictly philosophical assumption that Aether is matter, and therefore atomic and gravitative, the whole question of the inertia of the Aether is reduced to one of common experience. It is, at least to my mind, difficult to conceive of mass without weight or without atomicity, and yet that is the unphilosophical position of the present state of science
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in relation to the Aether. In other words, while the Aether is supposed to possess inertia, which is dependent upon mass, as measured by gravity, yet it is supposed not to be gravitative, that is, that the mass of the Aether has no weight at all, and therefore is not mass, which assumption contradicts itself. From Arts. 44 and 45, however, we have seen, to be strictly philosophical, that Aether must be atomic and also gravitative. It can now be easily understood how it can possess inertia like any other matter, and is therefore capable [78] of receiving motion from other matter, and also of imparting that motion to other matter.
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So that, wherever there is motion of any kind in the Aether, either in the form of vibratory motion as heat, or undulatory motion as light, or rotatory motion as electricity, those motions will affect adjoining matter in the same way that the motion of any other moving matter affects any body with which it comes into contact.
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From the fact that Aether possesses inertia, and is also gravitative, we have now to alter our conception of this universal space-filling medium, and in place of a frictionless medium, which is incapable of imparting motion to any body, we have now to remember henceforth that the Aether is matter, which possesses inertia, and therefore has the capacity not only of offering resistance to any body moving through it, as a comet or meteor, but also of imparting the motion which it may receive in any manner to any other matter, as a planet, satellite, or sun, that may be floating in it.
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With this philosophical view of the Aether, which is entirely in harmony with our first and second Rules of Philosophy, we shall be able to give a physical explanation of the Law of Gravitation, as we have now a physical medium existing in all atomic, solar, and stellar space, which can both accept motion, and transmit that motion to other bodies. In other words, we have a medium which can both push and pull.
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[7] Lectures on Light.
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Art. 49. Aether is Impressible.--Another characteristic property of this Aether medium is, that it is as perfectly impressible as it is elastic. So perfectly impressible, that it receives, retains, and perpetuates for thousands of years, and for distances to human mind incalculable, every impression given to it of light, form, colour, tint, and shade; and that, too, with a perfect fidelity that nothing mars, even to the least and most infinitesimal detail.
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Therefore, irrespective of distance, wherever there is matter to arrest and reflect the impressions received, there those impressions of light (and all that in the luminosity is involved and contained) become visible and revealed, and wherever there is power of vision to receive and concentrate these Aether- or light-waves, there, not only luminosity or light, but all that constitutes and is involved in that luminosity, becomes at once visible and seen.
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It is by this means we see the colour, tints, shades, and forms of suns and planets; of stars, constellations, etc., with all the varied forms, configurations, and movements of the celestial phenomena. Each and every one, small or great, glittering or blazing, sun or planet, are ever creating or generating Aether-waves, and impressing them with all the details and [79] particulars of their nature and existence; and these Aether-waves ever bear upon their mystic wings the impressions received, carrying the information given with lightning speed to the very confines and limits of infinite space or the material universe; beyond which exists nothing but the ever-living and active energy of the Divine, the only unlimited, unbounded, and absolute infinitive.
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It is by the interception and concentration of these waves by our perceptive powers, aided with the giant powers of the telescope, that we obtain the information given, or become cognizant of the nature and existence of the varied lights, colours, tints, and shades of the celestial bodies.
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The vision, assisted by the giant power of the telescope, collects and concentrates these Aether-waves into a perfect image of those things that gave them birth, and by this means reveals to us the knowledge of things afar, their existence, nature, characteristics, properties, and powers.
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Thus it is we see the solar orb, with its huge fires all aglow, obtain a knowledge of its character and powers, see its huge spots, its quivering fringe of flame, and high-leaping prominences, or watch its slowly revolving form.
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Thus we see the planets that around it sweep and roll; swift-footed Mercury with his wondrous speed, and dazzling Venus with her silver sheen; Mars the god of war with his ruddy glow, and mighty Jupiter with his orange hue, and the yellow Saturn with her mysterious rings, the blue Uranus, and the more distant Neptune, with all the satellites that to it belong.
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Then far far away the brilliant Sirius--the Dog Star, Cygnet, Centauri, the Great Bear, and a thousand others.
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The Pleiades and the twenty millions of suns that form our own galaxy and the Milky Way, with all their varied colours, tints, and hues of white, golden, orange, ruby, red and blue, green and grey, silver, purple and yellow, buff and fawn, emerald and green, lilac and coppery. Thus we see the distant Orion, so far away that swift-footed Light, with its speed of more than eleven million miles per minute, has to travel for more than thirty thousand years before it spans the gulf that intervenes between it and us, and brings to us the news of its existence there.
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Then the spectroscope with its revealing power literally tears asunder wave from wave, and reveals the mystic message which each doth bear, of the distant things from which they come, of each and every sort and kind.
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Thus we know, that in the solar fires there ever burn such things as hydrogen, oxygen and
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nitrogen, and also, in a vaporous state, aluminium, sodium, iron, magnesium, cobalt,
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calcium, chromium, copper, manganese, zinc, and others.
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[80]
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Thus light-waves are speeding everywhere, and from all material things. They come from our own sun, and rush in, and flood the earth's aerial veil, the atmosphere; and “Each little atom of matter, like a mirror, reflects and re-reflects them as if in sport, buffeting each luminous ray from one to another, increasing and amplifying it by an infinity of repercussions” (Herschel), and then in their entirety and whole, like a huge multi-mirror, so blend and mingle them that they come to earth's surface in that soft radiance we call Light, and bathe it as in a sea of mellowed glory.
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Art. 50. Aether: its Motions.--The question of the exact motions of the Aether is a question which has involved the attention of scientific men for many years, and which is at the present time receiving the attention of some of our most advanced scientists, not only in this country but in other countries also.
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Whether the Aether in space is at rest, or is moving along with all the bodies that float in it, so to speak, is a question of the greatest importance to scientists and philosophers generally, as the particular character of the motions of the Aether, which are either suggested or ascribed to it from the analogies of Nature, are sure to have a most important bearing not only on the motions of all the planets and satellites, but also upon such questions as the aberration of light, and such difficulties as presented by Lord Kelvin in his paper on “Clouds on the Undulatory Theory of Light” (Phil. Mag., July 1902).
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I need hardly point out that the hypothesis that Aether is gravitative, is bound to play a most important part in the consideration and development of this phase of the study of the
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universal aetherial medium. It is not my intention, however, at this stage of the work to go fully into the development of this aspect of the subject.
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The application of this principle will be considered at the right time, and in the right place. It is, however, generally assumed, that the Aether is at rest in space, and that the earth, the planets, and the sun and all stars, move through it with varying velocity, although, as Lord Kelvin points out, such an assumption is covered with a cloud which up to the present is “as dense as ever.” Of course, if the Aether be at rest, and the planets and other heavenly bodies move through it with varying velocity, then the only assumption regarding the Aether is, that it is frictionless, but, as I have shown in Art. 45, this is opposed to all philosophical reasoning, and therefore to experience and observation.
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We have, therefore, to postulate for the Aether such motions as shall fulfil all the Rules of Philosophy, that is, shall be simple in conception, shall be in harmony with our experience and observation, and which shall satisfactorily account for the phenomena sought to be [81] explained, that is, the universal Law of Gravitation; for it is by the properties, combined with the motions of the Aether, that the physical cause of Gravitation is alone to be explained.
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Let us revert to the question of a stationary Aether for a moment or two, and let us ask ourselves, where is the evidence for such an assumption? Has the sun ever ceased to shine, or to send its light-waves with their enormous velocity speeding through the solar system? So far as experience and observation go, I have never read of any record of such a fact, or that light-waves have ceased to proceed from the sun and fill the solar system with Aetherwaves.
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Not only is this true of the sun, but it is equally true of every planet and satellite, every meteor or comet, every star and sun that exist or dwell in this aetherial medium; for, as has already been shown (Art. 49), every body emits Aether-waves, and these waves spread out in all directions in a spherical form.
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The truth is, that the universal Aether is in eternal motion, and that motion forms the physical life of the universe. If it were possible to destroy the motion, then the whole fabric of the universe would fall to pieces, and the beauty, order, and harmony of the celestial mechanism would be replaced by disorder, confusion, and ultimate ruin. Take any analogy of Nature, and see what such an analogy teaches us. Look at any planet, sun, or star. Do we find any one of these stationary or at rest? Why from the smallest meteorite or satellite, to the largest star that shines in the firmament of heaven, there is nothing but motion; each satellite, planet, sun, and star moving on and on, ever and ever through the countless ages of time until its course is run and its existence ended. But rest, never! Such a thing as rest is unknown in the entire universe, whether it be in the atomic systems of matter, or the systems of stars and suns that form the universe of worlds.
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Take another illustration--that of the ocean! Is that ever at rest, with its unceasing wave and tidal motion? Has the reader ever stood on the shore and seen the ocean when it has been absolutely still, or when the tide has ceased to flow? Such a possibility is almost absurd to contemplate. The same argument applies to the air with its regular flow of winds. Now in regard to the aetherial and universal medium, there are just as regular motions as the flowing of the tide round the earth, or the revolving of a satellite round a planet, or a planet round the sun.
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And what is as important, all the motions can be as satisfactorily explained and accounted
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for from the physical standpoint, as the flow of the tide, or the revolution of a planet.
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[82]
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Year in and year out, the motions of the Aether remain the same, governed by the same laws and producing the same effects. Age after age, the Aether has been moving, producing by its
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various motions the continuity of that beauty, order, and harmony that govern the universe as a whole.
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I have already indicated in Art. 45 the effect of Gravitation on the Aether surrounding each satellite, or planet, or star, or sun. As each satellite, or planet, or star moves through the universal Aether, it takes with it its surrounding Aether as indicated in Art. 45, in the same way that each planet or sun takes with it its own associated atmosphere, which is held in contact with it by the self-same force of Gravitation.
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In addition to this motion of the aetherial atmosphere through space, there are other motions of this same gravitating Aether that have to be taken into consideration, before a complete and adequate conception of all the motions of the Aether can be arrived at.
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I do not intend, however, at this stage to go fully into such motions, but rather wish to lead up to them from a consideration of hypotheses put forward by such men as Rankine, Challis, Maxwell, Lord Kelvin, McCullagh, and Helmholtz, and from a consideration of such hypotheses in the realm of heat, light, and electricity to be able to form a scientific conception of the proper motions of the Aether, as well as a philosophical one.
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[83]
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CHAPTER V
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ENERGY
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Art. 51. Energy.--In the days of Newton, and for a long time afterwards, all energy went by the name of “Force.” Thus Newton in his Laws of Motion refers to the action of forces on stationary or moving bodies, and shows how the motion of any body is effected by the impressed force. (Art. 13.)
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As science advanced, and scientific research was carried into the fields of heat, light, and electricity, we find that the various forces began to be particularized, with the result that such terms as electrical force, magnetic force, chemical force, etc., became common and familiar terms. As gradually it became known that one particular kind of force was the outcome of another kind, there was given to the world such terms as the Correlation of Forces (Grove), in which he proved that whenever one kind of force appeared as heat or light, it was at the expense of another kind of force, as electricity.
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Of later years, however, another term has crept into Philosophy, and instead of the term Force, which is very indistinct and indefinite in character, there appeared the term Energy, although Force and Energy are not exactly synonymous terms. Thus electricity, heat, and light are forms of energy, and are convertible into one another, in the same way that the forces were convertible. Thus we get transformations of energy in the same way that we had transformations of force, and conservation of energy in the same way that we had conservation of force.
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Even the term Energy, however, is being replaced in the present times by something more definite and simple, and instead of the term Energy, we shall find, in the development of this phase of natural phenomena, that that term is being replaced by the simple idea of motion, or modes of motion, and that all forms of energy, as light, heat, magnetism, and electricity, and even Gravitation itself, are due to motion of some kind or other. We will, however, lead up to this truth by looking briefly at the term Energy, and see what it implies and embodies.
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Energy, therefore, is that property which a body possesses, by which it is capable of doing work. Thus our ideas of work give us our conception of energy. For example, when a weight [84] is lifted, work is done, and a certain amount of energy is expended in the process. Further, the amount of work done is proportionate to the weight lifted, and the height to which the
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body is raised. Work is done against resistance, so that whenever resistance is overcome, then work is the result. For example, suppose one pound is lifted one foot high, in opposition to the force of gravity, then work is done, and this amount of work is known as a foot-pound.
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If a body weighs ten pounds, and is lifted ten feet, the work done is equal to ten pounds multiplied by ten feet (10 × 10 equals 100), so that one hundred times the amount of work has been done in comparison with the lifting of the one pound one foot high.
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As all weight is essentially a gravitational measure, depending upon the intensity of gravity at the place, then, whenever a body is raised or lifted, the work so done is done against the gravity of the earth.
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Work is also done, as Newton points out in the first and second laws, whenever we apply force to any body, either stationary or already in motion. The results of all observation and experiments prove, that whenever we have two bodies upon which work is being done, the amount of work is determined by the amount of energy transferred from one body to the other, and that the actual amount of energy gained by one is equal to the amount of energy lost by the other.
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Energy is always found in association with matter, so that matter has sometimes been termed the Vehicle of Energy. Wherever, therefore, we find energy of any kind or sort, there we find matter also, as the two are inseparably connected together. Thus, wherever we have heat, we have matter in a particular state of motion, generally understood as vibratory motion Wherever we have light, which is also a form of energy, we also have matter in motion, that is the Aether, in a state of periodic wave-motion; and wherever we have electricity, we have again matter possibly in a state of rotatory motion, as we shall see later on. Energy, therefore, is the power which a body possesses to do work.
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Art. 52. Conservation of Energy.--The principle of the Conservation of Energy was first enunciated by Mayer in 1842. The principle may be defined as follows: The total amount of all the energy, as light, heat, electricity and magnetism, Gravitation, etc., in Nature is unchangeable; so that, according to this law, the universe possesses a store of energy which is unchangeable in quantity throughout all time. The energy may pass from one form to another, yet the total amount ever remains the same. It is almost unnecessary to say, that this is a principle which, like the conservation of matter, is incapable of absolute proof, but its [85] assumption has greatly helped scientific thought and speculation from time to time. Clerk Maxwell says (Theory of Heat) on this point: “The total energy of any body is a quantity which can neither be increased nor decreased by any mutual action of the bodies, though it may be transformed into those forms of which energy is susceptible.”
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The conservation of energy is inseparably connected with the conservation of matter (Art. 30). They cannot be divided, because, if energy is only to be found in association with matter, then if the law of the conservation of matter falls to the ground, the principle of the conservation of energy falls with it. Energy, therefore, like matter, cannot be destroyed or created by any process known to man. As there is no process known, either in the chemical or in the physical world, by which new matter may be created by man, so, in relation to energy of any kind or sort, there is no process known by which man can create or even destroy the smallest form of energy that exists. If energy appears in any body or in any particular form, it is solely because of the loss of energy in some other body, or in some other form.
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All changes of energy, therefore, are simply changes due to the difference in form in which the energy is manifested. At one time it will be manifested in the form of light, then of heat, then in mechanical motion, and so on. Joule gave us some good illustrations of this principle of the conservation of energy. He showed us how electricity could be changed into
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heat, and the heat into work. When light, which is a form of energy, is absorbed by any opaque body, it is found that the body which has absorbed it has become hotter. The energy of light has not been destroyed, but as its energy cannot pass through the opaque body, it has been employed in agitating the particles and atoms of that body, which becomes hotter in consequence.
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Thus from the principle of the conservation of energy, which is in operation not only in our planetary world, but throughout the whole of the solar and stellar space, and indeed throughout the whole universe, we arrive at the conclusion that the total quantity of energy throughout the universe is unchangeable. In the evolution and development of worlds, and in the destruction of those worlds after long periods of time, throughout all the varied manifestations of heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, associated with the development and destruction of each globe, the sum-total of the energy of the universe remains the same. Meteors may rush into the atmosphere of planets, and be dissolved into Aether through the friction, comets may be dissolved into their component gases as they near the sun, water may be changed into vapour by the heat of the summer sun, vegetation may be produced [86] from apparently dead matter, and then that vegetation may itself decay and return to the dust by which it had been built up, but throughout all these processes of birth and death, of evolution and devolution, the sum-total of active living energy which is associated with all the phenomena, remains unalterable and unchangeable. Such is the teaching of the great principle of the Conservation of Energy as enunciated by Mayer and Helmholtz.
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Art. 53. Transformation of Energy.--One of the chief characteristics of energy is, that we can transform it, and it is chiefly of use to us because of its capability to be transformed, but in all its transformations, the total quantity of energy remains the same. The transformation of energy renders it necessary to the existence of all life, and to all physical change in the universe. Mayer showed us that all energy in the solar system primarily derives its existence from the sun, and that all plant life and physical life owe their continued existence to the energy which is poured out from the sun upon the planetary worlds. So that energy is always flowing from the sun into the surrounding space in the form of light, heat, and electricity, the medium of its passage being the universal Aether.
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This principle of transformation teaches us, that heat may be converted into electricity; that light may be converted into heat, or electricity may be converted into either heat or light or both. This principle of transformation naturally follows from the principle of the conservation of energy; because, if energy cannot be destroyed in any way, but is made to disappear by any process, it must reappear in some other form, and therefore has been transformed from its original state. So that, whenever one kind of energy disappears, then it is absolutely necessary, according to the principle of conservation of energy, that some other kind shall be produced. There cannot be any real loss or destruction.
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That leads us to the next point regarding this principle of transformation, which is that all transformations of energy take place in fixed proportions. When a certain quantity of coal is burned, a certain quantity of heat, or thermal energy as it is sometimes called, is produced, and the quantity of heat so produced is definitely proportionate to the quantity of coal consumed.
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If a certain quantity of coal were burned in a perfect steam-engine, that is one in which there would be no loss of heat, then also a definite amount of mechanical work would be done, which would be strictly proportionate to the heat generated by the consumption of the coal. So that when coal is put into an engine, the potential energy of the coal is transformed into kinetic energy of the steam, and that is again transformed into actual mechanical energy of [87] the engine itself, by which work is done in driving or pushing or pulling the train along, and the amount of work done is proportionate to the coal consumed. Illustrations of transformation are common, and may be seen by any person living in a large town. Thus at any electrical station or electric tram terminus, these transformations of various forms of
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energy are very familiar sights. We have first the transformation of the coal in the furnace into heat. This heat converts water into steam, whose motion is communicated by proper machinery into a dynamo, the product of which is electricity. That electricity is then conveyed along wires, and work is done by it, by moving trams along the connected tram system, or it may be converted into heat in the carbon filament in the car itself, which, if heated enough, will then produce the electric light. So that starting from the coal, we have several transformations therefrom into the forms of heat, light, motion, and finally mechanical energy, which results in Work. The question arises as to what is the law of equivalence in regard to the transformation of energy. That is, if we have a certain amount of energy of a given sort, how much of any other sort can be produced by it? The answer is partly to be found in a statement made by Joule in 1843, which practically embodies what is known as the first law of Thermo-dynamics, and is as follows: “When equal quantities of mechanical effects are produced by any means whatever, from purely thermal sources, or lost in purely thermal effects, then equal quantities of heat are put out of existence or are generated, and for every unit of heat measured by raising a pound of water one degree F. in temperature, you have to expend 772 foot-pounds of work.” From this law we learn that heat may be used to do work, but that a certain amount of heat is always used up in the process. It can also be demonstrated that electric currents can do work, but to generate the currents a certain amount of work must be done.
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This equivalence and transformation prevail in all forms of energy, whether it be mechanical energy, thermal or heat energy, or electrical energy.
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Art. 54. Potential Energy.--Energy has been divided into two classes, which are termed respectively Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy. We will look at the former first.
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Potential Energy may be briefly defined as energy of position.
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Thus if we lift a body from the ground, the energy which has been imparted to it is energy of position, or potential energy. A glacier high up the mountain possesses potential energy, because of its position. By the mere fact that it is situated high up the mountain, it has a [88] capacity for doing work by its descent, and if that descent be very sudden, the work done will be destructive work, as it may sweep away all houses and villages in its sudden descent. Thus, by the mere fact of its elevation, it possesses a power of doing work, which it has lost when it has descended. Again, work done in winding up the spring of a clock is stored up in the form of potential energy, and gradually runs out in the form of motion or kinetic energy.
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Potential energy is really the complementary principle of kinetic energy. That is to say, the amount of potential energy lost by any body, is equal to the amount of kinetic energy gained by the other body, to which the energy has been transferred. In the case of a body falling, as the potential energy diminishes, the kinetic energy increases, but the total amount of the two combined always remains the same. This is well illustrated in the case of a swinging pendulum. When a pendulum is at the highest point of its swing, its velocity or kinetic energy is zero, but at that point its potential energy is greatest. As it descends, the potential energy decreases, but the kinetic energy increases. When the pendulum is at the lowest point its energy is wholly kinetic, the potential energy being zero at that point, while it has sufficient kinetic energy to raise it to the highest level again. Throughout the cycle of these operations, the sum-total of the two energies always remains the same.
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Professor Tait points out, in his Recent Advances in Physical Science, that the available sources of all potential energy may be divided into four classes--
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1st. Fuel.
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2nd. Food of Animals.
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3rd. Water-power.
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4th. Tidal Water-power.
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All these are different forms of potential energy. Under the head of fuel he includes not only wood, coal, but also all forms of matter that may be used or burnt up by heat, or dissolved by chemical agencies. Thus zinc and lead, which are used in batteries, are merely forms of fuel. That potential energy resides in such things as wood and coal is a matter of common experience. All our coal-fields are stores of energy, which received their energy when in plant form, ages ago, from the sun, and this energy is now being used to drive our machinery, to warm our houses, and to give light to our homes and our cities. It has been calculated that a pound of coal would give out 14,000 heat units, which is equal to 11,000,000 foot-pounds of work, which is also equal to the amount of work a horse can do in five hours. Again, all food, whether it be the food of animals, as vegetables and plants, or [89] of man, as bread, meat, etc., are all forms of potential energy, or energy which is stored up in matter. All forms of food have a certain amount of energy in them, which is used up in the body in building up waste tissue and imparting energy to the physical frame.
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Again, all forms of water-power, whether it be in the form of the flowing river or the tidal motion of the sea, possess a large amount of potential energy which may be used up to do mechanical work. They also possess kinetic energy, or energy of motion. We find illustrations of the possession of potential energy by rivers and tides, in the fact that by their fall from a higher to a lower level they may be made to do mechanical work, as in the case of the turning of the water-wheel by the fall of the water, which motion is communicated to machinery, and various forms of work are the result. In Switzerland and America advantage is being taken of the energy of falling water to generate electricity, by means of which villages and towns are being supplied with electric light at a very small cost.
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Art. 55. Kinetic Energy.--Kinetic energy may be defined as energy of motion, and is the
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energy which a body possesses in consequence of its motion. A body in motion thus
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possesses kinetic energy, which it must impart to some other body before it can be brought
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to a state of rest. The body may be simply an atom, as a vortex atom, but if it be in motion,
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as all atoms are, then it must possess kinetic energy, which may be transferred to another
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atom by collision, or by some other method. As has already been pointed out in previous
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articles, kinetic and potential energy are complementary to one another, the sum-total of the
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two combined always remaining the same in any cycle of work, according to the principle
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of the conservation of energy. We get a good example of this oscillation from kinetic to
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potential, and vice versâ, in the planetary system. When the earth is farthest from the sun, its
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velocity, and consequently its kinetic energy, is at its lowest point; but there the potential
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energy is at its greatest. As the earth turns round in its orbit, however, and begins to
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approach the sun again, its potential energy decreases, while its kinetic energy increases
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with its increased velocity. So that by the time it has reached the nearest part of its orbit to
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the sun, its velocity, and consequently its kinetic energy, is at a maximum, while the
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potential energy is at a minimum. Then as the earth passes round its perihelion, the kinetic
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energy is used up in assisting the earth to overcome the attraction of the sun. Thus there is
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this oscillation from kinetic to potential, and from potential to kinetic, year in and year out,
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as the earth performs its cycle round its central body the sun.
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[90]
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Professor Tait, in the work referred to in the previous Article, gives examples of kinetic forms of energy under the following heads--
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1st. Winds.
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2nd. Currents of Water.
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3rd. Hot Springs and Volcanoes.
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It can be readily seen that winds are a form of energy, as we have innumerable instances of the power and energy which they exert. Advantage is taken of that kinetic energy by means
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of windmills, in which the energy of the wind is imparted to the revolving sails, and thence to the machinery, various forms of mechanical work being the result, as, for example, the grinding of corn, or the pumping of water. The pressure or energy of winds has even been calculated, the following figures being examples--
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velocity in miles per hour.
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1
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mile.
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5
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"
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10
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"
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15
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"
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20
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"
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30
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40
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50
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"
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force in lbs. per sq. foot
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.005 lb. per sq. foot.
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.123 " " "
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"
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.496 " " "
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"
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1.11 " " "
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"
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1.98 " " "
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"
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4.5 " " "
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"
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7.9 " " "
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"
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12.5 " " "
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"
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In the case of currents of water, whether they are in the form of river currents or ocean currents, as has already been pointed out in the previous article, the question of potential energy, or energy of position, is associated with their kinetic energy. Water is taken at a certain elevation, and then allowed to fall to a lower level, and in its fall from the high level to the lower level, its kinetic energy is used to drive mill-wheels, and thus work is done, the kinetic energy of the water being transformed into the motion of the machinery. This machinery may be used to work a dynamo, and thus electric light may be generated, or it may drive an electric motor which may perform all sorts of mechanical work. The great underlying principle of either kinetic or potential energy rests in the fact, that wherever we have energy of any kind or sort, whether it be associated with water, wind, or Aether, there we have the capacity to do work, the amount of work depending upon the amount of energy that exists in the matter which is the vehicle of energy.
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In Art. 50 it has been indicated that the Aether possesses several kinds of motions. From the sphere of light and heat, we learn that the Aether possesses certain motions which are always exerted in a direction from the central body, which gives rise to the light- and heatwaves. That being so, it conclusively follows that the Aether possesses kinetic energy, and [91] therefore, possessing this energy, it also possesses the power to do work. It must be remembered we are no longer dealing with a frictionless medium, but with a gravitating medium, possessing mass and inertia, and, that being so, wherever we have the Aether in motion, there we have kinetic energy or the power to do work; and that work will correspond to the particular kind of motion which is exerted on any body by the aetherial motions, and will be equally subject to Newton's Laws of Motion.
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Art. 56. Energy and Motion.--An advance, however, as to the meaning of the term Energy has been made within recent years, which brings it more into harmony with that simplicity of conception, and accordance with experience which are the very foundation of all philosophy. Instead of the term Energy, there is now being used another term to denote the forces which form the life of the universe, and that term is the word “Motion.”
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Professor Poynting says: “All energy is energy of motion” (British Association Report, 1899).
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Thus motion is the fundamental principle of all phenomena. If we analyze all forms of energy with which we are familiar, we shall soon find that they are only changes of one
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form of motion into another. Thus we shall see that heat is a mode of motion, as has been proved by Tyndall, that light is another mode of motion, and that electricity is also a mode of motion. I need hardly point out that this advance in our conception of energy is strictly in accord with the Rules of Philosophy. First, it is simple in conception. When we say that a body possesses energy, whether that energy be potential energy or kinetic energy, it does not convey to the mind some definite concrete fact, as does the statement that a body possesses motion. Every one, whether familiar with scientific teaching or not, understands and is familiar with the word Motion, as it is a common phenomenon of everyday life and experience. As Energy was simpler in conception than Newton's term Force, so Motion is simpler in conception than the rather vague and indefinite term Energy; therefore when we say that all energy is energy of motion of some kind or sort, we state that which is philosophically correct.
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It is also in accord with the second Rule of Philosophy, in that it is strictly in harmony with experience and observation. Look where we will, or at what we will, there we find motion of some kind or other, whether it be among the innumerable stars, or in our own solar system, or any phenomena on the earth, or even among the world of atoms in their minute and atomic systems. Such a thing as absolute rest, or stagnation, is unknown in the universe. [92] Wherever there is matter, there we find motion of some kind or other. It may be vibratory motion as heat, or wave motion as light, or rotatory motion as electricity, but motion of some sort is inseparably connected with all matter. So that when we say that all energy of the universe is the energy of motion, and motion only, we state that which according to the second Rule of Philosophy is absolutely correct.
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Further, I wish to premise that by the use of the term modes of motion, in lieu of energy, the third Rule of Philosophy will be fulfilled. For if all phenomena of the universe, whether it be heat, light, electricity, be due to different modes of motion, then Gravitation should be explained from the physical standpoint by some kind of aetherial motion also. This I can safely premise will be done, and in the later chapters of this work, Gravitation will be shown to be due to the motions of the aetherial medium which floods all space. By so doing, all the Rules of Philosophy will be fully satisfied, and Gravitation will then be brought into line with all the other forms of motion, as heat, light, electricity, and magnetism, which are in themselves modes of motion, as will be shown in subsequent articles.
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Art. 57. Conservation of Motion.--If it be true that all energy is the energy of motion, then the principle of the conservation of energy ought also to apply to all the modes of motion, and in its place we should then have the principle of the conservation of the various forms of motion. This defined would be, that the total amount of all motion in the universe, as heat and light, electricity, magnetism, and Gravitation also, if that be due to the motion of the Aether, is unalterable and unchangeable.
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There may be changes from one form of motion to another, from heat to light, and light back to heat; heat into electricity, and electricity into light or heat; from Gravitation into heat or into light, or even into electricity; but the sum-total of the whole remains the same.
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Again, as the principle of the conservation of energy is inseparably connected with the conservation of matter, so the principle of the conservation of all the modes of motion is also inseparably connected with the conservation of matter. They cannot be divided, so that wherever we get matter of any kind or sort, there we get motion of some kind, either in the form of heat, light, or electricity, or those aetherial motions which produce those phenomena associated with Gravitation.
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As matter cannot be destroyed by any known process to man, so motion cannot be destroyed either. On the vortex atom theory of matter, this principle of the conservation of any mode of motion is perfectly intelligible, especially if added to that theory we have Dr.
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Larmor's electron theory as the basis of the vortex atom. An atom in its ultimate state is [93] nothing more or less than Aether in rotation, and as Aether is matter, we see that on the assumption of this atomic basis, we have even in the atomic world an illustration of this conservation of matter and motion, as in such an atom we have nothing but matter (i. e. Aether) and motion. Carrying the idea upwards in the atomic scale, if atoms of hydrogen or oxygen are multiples of these vortex atoms, then again we have nothing in all the elements, or combination of the elements, but matter and motion. Again, as all planets and satellites, suns and stars, are but agglomerations of elements, we have still the same two classes of things, matter and motion, and so from the most infinitesimal atom in existence, up to the most ponderous star that exists in the universe, we have running through them all the principle of the conservation of motion, which is to matter the source of all its activities, energies, and powers. Motion, therefore, might almost be said to be eternal. We have heard from time to time of the term perpetual motion. Philosophers have from time to time endeavoured to discover some application of this perpetual motion, but all efforts in this direction up to the present have proved futile. In one sense there is no such thing as perpetual motion. In another sense, that is from the standpoint of the conservation of all modes of motion, as motion cannot be destroyed, it must therefore be perpetual.
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It is an absolute impossibility to obtain motion except from some antecedent energy, which is itself a form of motion. It would require the distinctive fiat of an Almighty Creator to produce motion from nothing, and I question whether such a result is obtainable, as I hold that if the Creator, at any time in the history of the universe, set any substance in motion, the source from which that motion was derived, was His own Divine Energy, and in that sense the physical motion was not produced from nothing. Such an assumption is altogether opposed to all philosophical reasoning and experience. I hope to deal with the question either in the last chapter of this book, or in another work.
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Art. 58. Transformation of Motion.--Again, if energy be the energy of motion, and the principle of the transformations of energy holds good, then it is equally true that all modes of motion are also transformable. Thus heat is a mode of motion, being due to the vibration of the atoms which go to make up any body. Light is also a mode of motion, being due, as far as solar light is concerned, to the periodic wave motion of the Aether. While electricity, as we shall see later on, is also due to some form of rotatory motion. It has already been shown (Art. 54) that light can be converted into heat, so that the periodic wave motion of [94] light can be transformed into the vibratory motion of heat.
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Heat can also be converted into electricity, and if electricity be rotatory motion, then the vibratory motion of heat can be transformed into the rotatory motion of electricity. Again, as electricity can be converted into light, the rotatory motion of electricity can thus be transformed into the periodic wave motion of light. Thus through all the forms of motion with which we are familiar, we find this principle of transformation holds good, so that each form of motion may be directly or indirectly transformed into any one of the other kinds. Whenever, therefore, one kind of motion disappears, it is absolutely necessary, according to the principle of the conservation of motion, that some other kind shall be produced. There cannot be any real loss or destruction of the motion. It may be transformed, but not lost. By the use of proper apparatus, therefore, any form of motion with which we are familiar may be converted into another form, and in the process not the least quantity of any form of motion is lost. Heat may be changed into light, and light into heat; electricity into light, and light into electricity; heat into electricity, and electricity into heat. Indeed, starting from any one form, any of the other modes of motion may be produced, either directly or indirectly, and mechanical effects or work may be produced by each and all. Then, again, the order can be reversed, as by doing work which is simply applied motion, any of the other modes of motion can be produced. Thus heat can be produced by friction, and if the friction which is the outcome of muscular energy be continued long enough, a light will be the result, in the form of fire. When certain forms of work are done, as the turning of the handle of an
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electrical machine, frictional electricity will be produced. So that not only are all the modes of motion convertible into work, but work itself can be transformed into the modes of motion known as heat, light, electricity, and magnetism.
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Now, if Gravitation be due to motion of the Aether, and if it is true that all modes of motion are convertible, then the application of this principle should also hold good in relation to Gravitation. It has been demonstrated by Joule and others that Gravitation can be converted into heat, light, and electricity. It can be converted first into heat. Joule made a number of experiments to ascertain what quantity of heat is produced by falling bodies, that is bodies under the influence of Gravitation. From experiments he has calculated that if one lb. of water falls through a space of 772 feet, it would raise the temperature of the water one [95] degree Fahrenheit--that is, the water after its fall will be one degree hotter than when it started to fall. Here, then, we have the exact equivalence of a certain amount of gravitational motion expressed in terms of heat. So that, whenever motion of a falling body produced by gravity is arrested, heat is generated, and as heat is a mode of motion, it follows that the motion of Gravitation has been converted into the motion of heat. Again, the motion of gravity may be converted into that of light. This may be demonstrated as follows: Lord Kelvin has suggested that the light and heat of the sun are maintained by the falling into the sun of meteorites. Now the cause of the falling of these meteorites into the sun is the Attraction of Gravitation, and therefore if the falling of these meteorites produces light and heat, it necessarily follows that the motion of Gravitation, whatever that may be due to, is converted into the motion known as light and heat. Thus it can be seen that Gravitation, looked at from the standpoint of a mode of motion, is itself conformable to the principle of the transformation of motion, and this is an indirect argument in favour of the fact that Gravitation is itself due to certain motions of the universal Aether.
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Art. 59. Motion and Work.--In Art. 52 we have seen that energy is the power which a body possesses to do work, the amount of work which a body can perform being regulated by the amount of energy which such a body possesses. In Art. 57 we have further seen that all energy is the energy of motion, and that wherever we have energy of any kind or sort, whether it be in the form of light, heat, or electricity, there we have motion of some kind or other. That being so, we arrive at the conclusion, that wherever in the universe we have motion of any kind or sort, whether it be the motion of Aether, or wind, or water, there we have the power of doing work, and the work so done will be proportionate to the motion which the medium possesses. The amount of work that air in motion can do has been measured, as we have already seen (Art. 55) that air which moves at the rate of 30 miles per hour exerts a force of 4-1/2 lb. per square foot.
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The amount of work that water in motion can do has also been measured. The carrying and erosive powers of a river depend on the rapidity of its currents. It has been calculated that a velocity of three inches per second will transport fine clay; eight inches per second coarse sand; while three feet per second will transport stones as large as eggs.
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If, therefore, air moving at the rate of 30 miles an hour can exert a force of 4-1/2 lb. per square foot, what must be the force or pressure of aetherial motion, as light-waves for example, which move with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second? The amount of work [96] which such an aetherial motion can perform has actually been measured by Professor Lebedew of Moscow, and will be dealt with in the chapter on “Light, a Mode of Motion,” when the application of the work done on a body, as a planet for example, will also be considered. Work, therefore, can always be done by motion against resistance. This is a fundamental principle in the sphere of dynamics, which is incontrovertible, as all experience, observation, and experiment teach us, that wherever we get motion of any kind or sort, there we have the capacity or power to do work. The work done may be either in the form of pushing a body along, or pulling a body towards a centre. All experience and observation teach us that no body moves (whether it be an atom, or moon, or planet, or sun,
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or star), unless some other body or medium, which is in direct contact with the moving body, exercises some pressure or pull upon the moving body. The action is purely and simply a mechanical one. So that if this be true, then the earth and the planets, the sun and stars, comets and meteors, are moved through space solely because they are being pushed by some medium, or pulled to the centre by the motions of the same medium. If this can be proved to be true, then, as can be readily seen, our philosophy will then be made to agree with our experience, and the second Rule of Philosophy fully satisfied. As has already been pointed out, there is no such thing as action at a distance, therefore the Law of Gravitation demands a medium for its operation, production, and continuity. Newton distinctly points this out in his Letters to Bentley, where he says: “That one body should act upon another through empty space without the mediation of anything else, by and through which their action and pressure may be conveyed from one to another, is to me so great an absurdity that I believe no man who has in philosophical matters a faculty for thinking can ever fall into it.” It has already been pointed out (Art. 42), that the only medium which is universal is the Aether medium, and we have therefore to look to the motions and properties of that medium for the solution of the problem as to the physical cause of Gravitation. That such a medium has motions which are as regular as the tides of the sea, or the trade winds of the atmosphere, will be proved later on, when it will be found that Gravitation, with all that that law implies, is due, as Newton and Challis suggested, to the pressure, properties, and motions of the aetherial medium, which is as universal as Gravitation itself. This being so, it is essential that we should set ourselves to find out from the analogies of Nature, what are those properties and motions of the Aether which give rise to the universal Law of Gravitation. This I propose doing by a consideration of three different modes of motion-- [97] viz. Heat, a mode of motion; Light, a mode of motion; and Electricity, a mode of motion. I venture to premise, from a careful consideration of these three truths, that we shall be able logically and philosophically to arrive at the simple, yet grand truth which reveals the physical source of all motion of the universe.
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[98]
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CHAPTER VI
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HEAT IS MOTION
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Art. 60. Heat is Motion.--On the phenomena of Heat, Newton in his eighteenth query in Optics asks the questions: “Is not the heat of a warm room conveyed through the vacuum by the vibrations of a much subtler medium than air, and is not the medium the same as that medium by which light is reflected and refracted, or by whose vibrations light communicates heat to bodies? And do not the vibrations of this medium in hot bodies, contribute to the intenseness and duration of their heat? And do not hot bodies communicate their heat to contiguous cold ones by the vibrations of this medium propagated from them into the cold ones? And is not this medium exceedingly more rare and subtle than air, and exceedingly more elastic and active?” Thus it can be seen that Newton was of the opinion that heat consists in a minute vibratory motion of the particles of bodies, and that such motion was communicated through what he calls a vacuum by the vibrations of an elastic medium, the Aether, which was also concerned in the phenomena of light.
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One of the first experimental investigations into the real nature of Heat was made in 1798 by Count Rumford.
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While he was engaged in boring brass cannon in the arsenal at Munich, he was struck with the degree of heat which the brass gun acquired, and with the still more intense heat which the metallic chips, which were thrown off, possessed. Of the phenomena he says: “The more I meditated on these phenomena, the more they appeared to me to be curious and interesting. A thorough investigation seemed even to bid fair to give us a farther insight into the hidden nature of Heat.” Rumford therefore set himself to find out by actual experiments
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what the nature of Heat was. For this purpose he constructed a cylinder, and mounted it so that it could be made to rotate by horse-power. At the beginning of the experiment the thermometer stood at 60° Fahrenheit, and after half-an-hour, when the cylinder had made 900 revolutions, the temperature was found to be 130° Fahrenheit, so that there had been an increase in the temperature of the cylinder of 70° Fahrenheit. The experiment was again repeated in another form with similar results. Rumford in dealing with the results of his [99] experiments said: “It appears to me to be extremely difficult, if not quite impossible, to form any distinct idea of anything capable of being excited and communicated, in the manner the Heat was excited and communicated, in these experiments, except it be Motion.”
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Only a year later, Davy gave to the world some results of experiments which he had performed, by which he had arrived at a similar conclusion to that of Rumford, viz. that “Heat is motion of some kind.” His experiment consisted of rubbing two pieces of ice together, and by so doing showed the ice could be melted. He then caused two pieces of metal to be rubbed together, keeping them surrounded by ice, and still he found that the two pieces of metal when rubbed together, produced heat, and melted the ice. He therefore rightly concluded that heat was produced by friction, and of the experiment adds: “A motion or vibration of the corpuscles of bodies must necessarily be generated by friction. Therefore we may reasonably conclude that this motion or vibration is Heat. Heat then may be defined as a peculiar motion, probably a vibration of the corpuscles of bodies tending to separate them. It may with propriety be called a repulsive motion. Now bodies exist in different states, and those states depend upon the action of the attractive and of the repulsive powers on their corpuscles, or in other words, on their different quantities of repulsion and attraction.” It was not, however, till 1812 that Davy confidently stated that “The immediate cause of the phenomena of Heat is motion, and the laws of its communication are precisely the same as the laws of the communication of motion.”
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The question therefore confronts us, if heat be motion, what is the particular character of that motion? Is it a vibratory motion as Davy suggested, or is it similar to the undulatory wave motion of light? I need hardly point out, that we have evidence in favour of the hypothesis that light is due to some form of periodic wave motion in the Aether, the hypothesis being that known as the undulatory theory. We have also similar evidence in favour of the hypothesis, that heat is also due to some form of motion of the same aetherial medium. Indeed, it can be shown that heat possesses all the properties of light, and is subject to the same laws, with the exception that it cannot affect the sense of sight.
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Heat, then, is due to some motion in the universal aetherial medium, that not only fills all space, but also forms an atmosphere around every atom or particle of matter that exists in the universe, and that motion is generally known as a vibratory or backward and forward motion.
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Heat, then, may be said to be due to the vibrations of the Aether that surrounds all atoms [100] and molecules, and of which those very atoms are composed, that is if we accept the aetherial constitution of all matter. So that, whenever a body, whether it be an atom or a molecule, or a planet or sun or star, is heated in any way whatever, such bodies excite waves in the surrounding Aether, and these waves travel through the Aether towards us from the heated body with the velocity of light. When these waves fall upon any other body, they become more or less absorbed by the body on which they fall, and cause corresponding vibratory motions in the same, which give rise to the phenomenon of heat in that particular body.
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It has to be remembered that nothing definite is actually known as to the character of this vibratory motion. It is called a vibratory motion because it possesses a periodic vibratory movement, but as to its exact character, that has not yet been discovered. I hope, however, to indicate what the motion is that produces heat before the completion of this work.
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Art. 61. Heat and Matter.--If it be true that heat is due to the vibrations of the aetherial
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medium, the question now arises, as to how a body may become heated, and by so doing be
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transformed into the three stages in which matter is found. We have already seen (Art. 36),
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that matter may be found in three forms, viz. solid, liquid, and gaseous, and that all these
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different forms of matter are composed of minute parts called atoms. In the case of the
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solid, the atoms are held closely together by some strong attractive power, termed cohesion;
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in the case of the liquid, the atoms have a greater freedom; while in the gaseous form they
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have a greater freedom of movement than when in either the liquid or the solid state.
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According to Young's Fourth Hypothesis (Art. 45), we find that all matter, and therefore all
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atoms have an attraction for the Aether, by means of which it is accumulated within their
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substance, and for a small distance around them in a state of greater density, and therefore
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of greater elasticity. In other words, as Aether is gravitative, every atom possesses an
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atmosphere of Aether in the same way that the earth has its atmosphere of air; and further,
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the aetherial atmosphere of each atom is densest nearest to the atom, gradually getting rarer
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and rarer the further the atmosphere recedes from the nucleus or centre, the elasticity or
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pressure being always proportionate to the density. Professor Challis, in his Dynamical
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Theory of Light and Heat, states that all the forces in Nature are different modes of pressure
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under different circumstances of the universal Aether, and as heat is a Force, and therefore a
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mode of motion, that also must be due to some form of pressure due to the vibrations of the
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Aether.
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[101]
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Professor Challis[8] on this point says: “According to this theory, the atoms of any substance are kept in position of equilibrium by attractions and repulsions resulting from the dynamical action of the vibrations of the Aether which have their origin at the atoms. Each atom is the centre of vibration propagated equally from it in all directions, and that part of the velocity of the vibration which is accompanied by change of density (of the Aether) gives rise to a repulsive action on the surrounding atoms. This action is the repulsion of heat, which keeps the individual atoms asunder.”
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With all these facts before us, we are now in a position to account for the changes of matter which take place when heat is applied to either a solid or a liquid body. We have already seen (Art. 36) that it is by the application of heat that matter in its solid form is changed into a liquid, and from a liquid into a vaporous or gaseous form. It is now for us to endeavour to form a mental picture as to how this is done.
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For example, let us take an iron ball, and apply heat to it, either by putting it in a furnace or suspending it in some way over an intense heat. As the heat, which is vibratory motion of the Aether, begins to be absorbed by the iron ball, it sets the atoms which compose the ball in motion, urging them to separate, and thus cause the iron ball to expand and increase in volume. As greater heat is absorbed, so greater motion among the atoms is the result. So that the motion of heat is tending all the time to expand the body, while they are held together by the attraction of cohesion, whatever that may be. As the heat is further increased, the iron ball begins to assume a liquid or molten form, its atoms beginning to move about with greater freedom, though held together by a decreased attractive power. In this condition we now say that it is in the molten state. Now during all this time, what has the Aether been doing, or what part has it played in the expansion and changing of the solid to a liquid? We have to remember, from Art. 60, that wherever there is motion of any kind or sort, there we have a capacity to do work, and that the aetherial motion which we term heat is no exception to this rule. We are now no longer dealing with a frictionless medium, but with a medium which possesses weight, because it is gravitative, and consequently possesses inertia also. So that whenever the Aether is set in motion by flame or heat, its motion would be transmitted by waves of some kind to the iron ball. These periodic waves, acting upon the mass of the ball, attack the molecules of the ball and begin to set them in motion. It is supposed that they are already in motion, as nothing is absolutely cold, and the [102] motion of the aetherial waves imparts a greater motion still to the molecules, with the result
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that the agitation becomes greater and greater, until at length the agitation becomes so great, that the molecules break away from the power of attraction that holds them together, and so begin to move about with greater freedom and with greater rapidity. It is this state which we call molten. Now if Aether be frictionless, as has hitherto been supposed, and if heat be due to the vibratory motions of Aether, the problem confronts us, as to how the motion of a frictionless medium can do work in expanding a body, and urging the molecules of a body further and further apart. If the Aether be frictionless, then the waves of Aether known as aetherial heat waves ought to pass between the atoms as water passes through a sieve, or wind passes through a forest. Yet it is assumed that the vibratory motions of a hot body are caused by vibrations of the periodic waves of the Aether, which act upon the molecules of the body; and, in order for such an assumption to be consistent with the results, the only possible conception that can be accepted of the Aether, is that it is gravitative, and consequently possesses mass and inertia, and therefore has a capacity not only to accept motion, but also to transmit motion to another body, and impart the motion which it has accepted to a colder body.
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By imparting such motion, it increases the motion of the cold body, and gradually changes its state from a solid to a liquid condition. Here, then, from the realm of heat we have another argument in favour of the fact that Aether is gravitative, and therefore possesses mass and inertia.
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In the experiment of reducing the iron ball from a liquid state, so to speak, to a vaporous condition, we have practically a continuation of the same process, only that greater heat or greater aetherial motion is required, and whereas in the previous experiment the molecules of the ball were acted upon, in this case the atoms are more directly acted upon by the Aether waves. In all these processes it suggests itself to me that the aetherial atmosphere must take its share in the expansion and transformation of the liquid form into a gaseous form, or the solid into a liquid form. Taking the analogy of our atmosphere in its relation to the earth, we know that when heat is absorbed by it, it expands, the result being that a greater pressure is exerted by the expanding atmosphere, than would be exerted if it remained at the same temperature all the time. If, therefore, each atom has an aetherial atmosphere, which is capable of expansion, then the effect of the absorbed aetherial motion of the heat waves on each atomic atmosphere must be to expand it, and thus there will be a pressure away from the atom, because of the increased elasticity acquired by the heated aetherial atmosphere. So that the expansion of the liquid is due to the increased elasticity of [103] the aetherial atomic atmosphere, which has been expanded by heat, and which exerts an increased pressure on neighbouring atoms, thus seeking to push them farther away from each other. There are other motions of the atoms themselves in addition to this to be considered, but I am now seeking to show only the effect of the aetherial atmosphere of each atom upon the neighbouring atoms. This would give each atom a larger sphere of freedom in which to move, and that state would then be called a gaseous and not a liquid one. This assumption of the part which the aetherial atmosphere plays in the expansion of a body is therefore in agreement with Professor Challis' theory of heat already referred to, in which he states that heat gives rise to aetherial vibrations which act repulsively on the neighbouring atoms. In further confirmation of the existence of these aetherial atmospheres that exist around atoms, I would like to draw the attention of the reader to a theory of heat given to the world by Rankine, Phil. Mag., 1851. His theory is known as the “Hypothesis of Molecular Vortices.”
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He assumed that “each atom of matter consists of a nucleus or central point, enveloped by an elastic atmosphere, which is retained in its position by attractive forces, and that the elasticity due to heat arises from the centrifugal force of those atmospheres revolving or oscillating about their nuclei or centres.”
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Now in this assumption we find that he admits that each atom has an atmosphere, such atmosphere evidently being an aetherial one, and in that case the hypothesis would agree with the statement in Art. 46, that every atom possesses an aetherial atmosphere. He further points out that the atmosphere is retained in its position by attractive forces. This is also in harmony with the hypothesis given in Art. 45, which proves that Aether is gravitative, and therefore the atmosphere of the atom would be held in its position by the attractive force of Gravitation, as suggested by Young in his Fourth Hypothesis.
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Further, he goes on to show that the elasticity of the atomic atmosphere is proportionate to its density, which is also in conformity with the statement made in Art. 47, and is also in accordance with Boyle's Law. Then he goes on to prove that the quantity of heat in a body is measured by the molecular revolutions of the vortices.
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He does not clearly define the exact character of those molecular vortices, but I take it to mean that each atmosphere is in a state of revolution around its atomic centre, in the same way that the atmosphere of a planet is in a state of revolution around its central body.
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Such an assumption is entirely in harmony with experience, as there is an analogy for its [104] assumption from the planetary system; and if an atom is a world in miniature, as I believe it to be, then the atmosphere of the atom ought to revolve around its central nucleus in the same way that the atmosphere of a planet revolves around its nucleus or central body.
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He then deals with temperature, and with the pressure of gases caused by heat, showing the relation of elasticity and pressure to temperature in a table of results given in the Phil. Mag. for 1851. I must refer the reader to the paper itself for fuller details. Thus from one of the greatest thinkers of modern times we have further testimony to the hypothesis that Aether is matter and is therefore gravitative, and because of its gravitating tendency, it forms around every atom and molecule elastic envelopes or atmospheres, whose pressure is always proportionate to their density.
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[8] Phil Mag., 1859.
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Art. 62. Radiation and Absorption.--We have already seen (Art. 31) that all matter is made up of atoms and molecules, each of which is surrounded by its atmosphere of Aether. By means of the Aether, motion in the form of light and heat may be transmitted from one atom and molecule to another. The transmission of heat from one body to another is termed Radiation, while the acceptance of heat is termed Absorption. Tyndall defines Radiation as “the communication of molecular motion from the heated body to the Aether in which it is immersed,”[9] and Absorption, therefore, would be the acceptance of motion by the body from the Aether. So that in Radiation, the atom, molecule, or body parts with motion to the Aether, while in Absorption it gains motion from the Aether.
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Now in order for us to understand this theory of Radiation and Absorption, it will be well for us if we look at a similar effect in the sphere of music and sound. Let us suppose that we have two tuning-forks of the same pitch, placed on a table at a distance of a foot from each other. If we set one of the forks vibrating, the waves which it radiates through the air will fall upon the other one, and will also set it in vibration, because they are of the same period or size as those waves which it would itself give off when sounded. Thus while one is losing its motion, the other is gaining it, or while one is radiating motion, the other is absorbing motion. This can readily be proved by stopping the vibration of the first fork, when it will be found that the second fork is now giving out a similar note to the first, although it was silent at the commencement. Thus we have here an example of radiation and absorption of sound, the success of the experiment depending upon the fact that both forks shall have the same pitch. Again, it must be noted, that if we have two tuning-forks both of which are of the same pitch, and both vibrating at the same time, then, while one is radiating sound and [105] consequently losing motion to the other, yet at the same time it is absorbing motion from the
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other. Because, if fork A can transfer motion to fork B, the latter can equally transfer its motion to fork A, and when both are vibrating together, each is the recipient of part of the other's motion, while at the same time giving off motion in the form of sound waves itself. So that the power of a fork to radiate sound waves equals its power to absorb sound waves. If now we apply this simile to the atomic and molecular world, we shall be able to form a mental picture as to what takes place in radiation and absorption.
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All atoms and molecules are ever in a state of ceaseless motion, ever moving, never still. All are creating Aether waves which move away with the velocity of light. If, in the transmission of the waves by the Aether, they fall upon another atom which can emit a wave of similar length, in the same way that two tuning-forks emitted sound waves of the same length, then the atom upon which the waves strike will be set in vibration, as the second tuning-fork was set in vibration by the first. We shall look again at the principle of wave motion in the next chapter. Further, from the simile of the two forks, which absorb sound at the same time that they radiate sound, we learn that an atom or body radiates heat waves at the same time that it is absorbing heat waves. Suppose that we have two bodies at equal temperatures, it must not be thought that the radiation or absorption has ceased, for, according to the simile used, they both still continue to vibrate and emit the aetherial heat waves; but where we get equality of temperatures, there we get equality of radiation and absorption. Before this equality of temperatures, however, is reached, the hotter body will radiate more heat waves than it absorbs, while the colder body will absorb more heat waves than it emits. All bodies, whatever their temperature, are incessantly radiating heat waves. This may be proved experimentally with proper apparatus, as for example with an instrument known as the thermopile. When, however, the total heat waves radiated out by a body are less than it absorbs, the body gets gradually colder, and the temperature decreases. So long as this is continued, so long will the body continue to get colder and colder, until it arrives at the same temperature as the surrounding bodies, at which point the total heat waves radiated out will equal the total heat waves absorbed, and at that point the temperature of the body will remain constant.
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This aspect of temperature was first introduced by Prevost of Geneva in 1792, in an article in which he tried to explain the radiation from a cold body. According to his reasoning, a body is not simply regarded as radiating heat when its temperature is falling, or absorbing [106] heat when it is rising.
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What he tried to make clear was, that both radiation and absorption were going on at one and the same time; the radiation depending upon the body itself, but the absorption depending upon the nature of the body. While radiation and absorption are thus reciprocal, which implies that a good radiator is a good absorber, and a bad radiator is a bad absorber, it does not follow that all bodies radiate and absorb alike.
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The capacity of bodies to radiate and to absorb differ considerably. Dr. Franklin made several simple experiments to prove the relative powers of radiation and absorption with several pieces of cloth. These were put out on the snow, and exposed to the heat of the sun. He found that the pieces which were dark in colour sank deepest into the snow, while those which were lightest in colour sank the least. From this he inferred that the darkest pieces were the best absorbers, and therefore the best radiators, while the light-coloured cloths were the worst absorbers, and therefore the worst radiators.
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Radiation, therefore, may be said to be the propagation of a wave motion through the Aether; and, as all motion is a source of power or energy, we have in the radiation of heat from one body to another by the aetherial waves, the transmission of a motive power capable of doing work, either internal work as increasing the temperature of the molecule or body, or external work as separating the atoms, or driving them further apart. It can readily be seen that if the Aether were frictionless, as has generally been supposed, the Aether could not have any motive power at all, and therefore could not transmit heat from one body to
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another. Professor Tyndall[2] on this point says, referring to the cooling of a red-hot ball: “The atoms of the ball oscillate in a resisting medium, which accepts their motion and transmits it on all sides with inconceivable velocity.” Now in the previous quotation given in this article from the same authority, he states that the atoms are immersed in the Aether. So that evidently in his opinion the Aether and the resisting medium are one and the same. So that our assumption of the gravitative property of the Aether is perfectly in accord with Professor Tyndall's conception of the Aether, in so far as it concerns the propagation of heat waves; and, as will be shown later on, heat and light waves are due to the same physical agent--that is, the Aether; therefore, wherever we get heat and light, there, according to Professor Tyndall's statement, we must have a resisting medium, and as Aether fills all space, the resisting medium must fill all space. This is perfectly in accord with our [107] assumption that the Aether is gravitative and possesses inertia--that is, the capacity to receive and to impart motion, and being gravitative it possesses mass or weight, which is the very quality necessary for the existence of a resisting medium.
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[9] Heat, a Mode of Motion.
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Art. 63. Heat is a Repulsive Motion.--Whatever be the particular character of the vibratory motion of the Aether termed heat, there is one fact regarding the same that is very patent and obvious to all; and that is, that the vibratory motion of heat is essentially a repulsive motion, or a motion from a centre and not one to a centre.
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Professor Davy points this out (Art. 60) where he says of heat, “It may with propriety be called a repulsive motion,” while Professor Challis (Art. 61) states that “Each atom is the centre of vibrations propagated from it equally in all directions, which give rise to a repulsive action on the surrounding atoms. This action (he adds) is the repulsion of heat which keeps the individual atoms asunder.”
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There have been many experiments undertaken which go to prove that a repulsive action between atoms and molecules is produced by heat. It has been demonstrated that certain coloured rings, known as Newton's rings, change their shape and position when the glasses between which they appear are heated, thus indicating the presence of a repulsive power due to the increased heat. If we consider the change of state that heat induces in matter, as, for example, from solid to a liquid, or liquid to a gaseous form, we are compelled to admit that heat possesses an expanding and therefore a repulsive motion. It is almost an universal law that heat expands and cold contracts, and the greater the heat absorbed, the greater the expansion. In the case of a solid being converted into a liquid, a much greater heat or repulsive motion is required to separate the particles, on account of the power of cohesion being greater in the solid than in the liquid. As Professor Tyndall[10] states when dealing with the stability of matter from the molecular standpoint: “Every atom is held apart from its neighbour by a force of repulsion. Why then do not the mutually repellent members of the group part company? The reason of this stability is that two forces, the one attractive and the other repulsive, are in operation between every two atoms, and the position of every atom is determined by the equilibration of these two forces. The points at which attraction and repulsion are equal to each other is the atom's position of equilibrium. When the atoms approach too near each other, repulsion predominates and drives them apart; when they [108] recede to too great a distance, attraction predominates and draws them together.” If, therefore, there are TWO forces at work in the atomic world, viz. attraction and repulsion, then the question arises, Can that repulsive power be increased in any way, and if so, by what means? Such repulsive motion, as experiment and experience teach us, can be increased, and such increase may be derived from the absorption of heat which gives rise to increased atomic motion, and so to increased aetherial motion away from the atom, by which the repulsive action of one atom upon another is increased. Thus an atom's repulsive power may be increased by heat; the greater the heat absorbed, the greater the repulsive power that any atom or body exerts upon a neighbouring atom or body. We can therefore
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understand how it is, that a body when changed from a solid to a liquid condition occupies a larger space in the latter condition than in the former; or why a body when changed from a liquid to a gaseous condition occupies a still larger volume in the latter than in its previous condition. The expansion in both cases is essentially the result of the increased repulsive motion that has been imparted to its atoms or molecules by the increased heat, and this increased repulsive power has overcome the attractive power of the atoms or molecules, with the result that they have been driven further and further apart, until, in the gaseous state, the atoms may be very far apart indeed. Wherever, therefore, we have heat of any kind, there we have a repulsive motion, such motion being proportionate to the heat radiated, that is, the aetherial waves propagated by the body. If, therefore, in the atomic world we find a repulsive motion, which is due to the vibratory motions of the Aether generated by heat, the question now confronts us, as to whether in the solar system, and indeed all through the universe, there is not the same repulsive motion from a central body due to the wave motions of the Aether termed Heat.
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May we not find in the repulsive power of heat in the atomic world, an indication of that very power for which we are seeking in the solar system--that is, a Centrifugal Force or motion which is the exact opposite of the Centripetal Force or attractive power of Gravitation? For if heat be a repulsive motion at all, then to be strictly logical it must be equally repulsive in relation to large masses, the sun and the planets for example, as it is in the atomic world, otherwise we have a phenomenon in Nature which contradicts itself, which assumption would be contrary to the simplicity which is to govern our philosophy, and also contradictory to experience, which is the primary factor of philosophical reasoning. Now what are the facts with reference to the sun, which is the central body of our solar [109] system, and the source of all light and heat in that system? We will look at this aspect of the question under the heading of Radiant Heat.
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[10] Heat, a Mode of Motion.
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Art. 64. Radiant Heat.--The source of all light and heat, not only of our earth, but also of all the other planets, is to be found in the sun. We have therefore to deal, not with an atom which is generating heat waves on every side, but with a globe about 860,000 miles in diameter, and with a circumference of over 2,700,000 miles. This huge orb consists of a central body, molten or partly solid, with a temperature so hot that it is almost impossible to conceive its intensity. The quantity of heat emitted by the sun has been ascertained by Sir John Herschel from experiments made at the Cape of Good Hope, and by M. Pouillet in Paris.
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Sir John Herschel found that the heating power of the sun when it was directly overhead was capable of melting .00754 of an inch of ice per minute. According to M. Pouillet the quantity was .00703 of an inch, which is equal to about half-an-inch per hour. From these results it has been calculated that if the direct heat of the sun were received upon a block of ice one mile square, 26,000 tons would be melted per hour by the heat which would be absorbed. Again, as Herschel[11] puts it: “Supposing a cylinder of ice, 45 miles in diameter, to be continually darted into the sun with the velocity of light, the heat given off constantly from the sun by radiation would be wholly expended in liquefaction on the one hand, while on the other, the actual temperature at the sun's surface would undergo no diminution.” Sir John Herschel further says: “All the heat we enjoy comes from the sun. Imagine the heat we should have to endure if the sun were to approach us, or we the sun, to a point the one hundred and sixtieth part of the present distance. It would not be merely as if 160 suns were shining on us all at once, but 160 times 160 suns according to the rule of inverse squares-that is, 25,600. Imagine a globe emitting heat 25,600 times fiercer than that of an equatorial sunshine at noonday, with the sun vertical. In such a heat there is no solid substance we know of which would not run like water, boil, or be converted into smoke or vapour.”
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Lockyer points out that the heat radiated from every square yard of the sun's surface is equal to the amount of heat produced by the burning of six tons of coal on that area in one hour. Now the surface of the sun may be estimated at 2,284,000,000,000 square miles, and there are 3,097,600 square yards in each square mile; what therefore must be the number of tons of coal which must be burnt per hour to represent the amount of heat radiated from the sun [110] into space? The approximate result may be calculated by multiplication, but the figures arrived at fail to give any adequate conception of the actual result.
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From these facts it may be seen that the sun has a temperature far exceeding any
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temperature that can be produced on the earth by artificial means. All known elements
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would be transformed into a vaporous condition if brought close to the sun's surface. It may
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readily be seen, therefore, that the sun is constantly sending forth an incessant flood of
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radiant heat in all directions, and on every side into space. Now if heat be motion, and be
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primarily due to the vibratory motion of Aether, what must be the volume and the intensity
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of the aetherial waves, known as heat waves, generated by the sun? When we remember its
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ponderous mass, with its volume more than 1,200,000 times that of our earth, its huge girth
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of more than 2-1/2 millions of miles, and this always aglow with fire the most extensive
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known--fires so intense that they cover its huge form with a quivering fringe of flames
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which leap into space a distance of 80,000 miles, or even 100,000 miles, or over one-third
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of the distance of the moon from the earth,--remembering all these facts, what must be the
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volume and intensity of the aetherial heat waves which they generate and send upon their
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course into space on all sides! What a very storm of energy and power must there be in this
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aetherial atmosphere which exists around the sun's huge form, and with what volume of
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power must the aetherial heat waves speed away from so great a generating source! Some
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idea as to their velocity of motion may be gained by the fact, that these aetherial heat waves
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traverse the distance of 92,000,000 miles between the sun and our earth in the short space of
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8-1/2 minutes. With such a velocity of motion as that, and with the fact before us that all
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motion is a source of energy or power, what must be the energy possessed by these heat
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waves! There must, therefore, be a power in these aetherial heat waves which is strictly
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proportionate to their intensity and flow. So that, whenever they come into contact with any
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body, as a planet, as they flow outwards from the sun, they must exert a power upon such a
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planet which is directed away from the sun, and therefore act upon that planet by the energy
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of their motion away from the sun, the source of the aetherial heat waves. Therefore, not
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only in the atomic world is heat a repulsive motion, but equally in the solar world, which is
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but an atomic world on a large scale, the same principle prevails, and the effect of radiant
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heat is essentially a repulsive, that is, a centrifugal motion, as it is always directed from the
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central body, the sun.
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[111]
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Further, it can be shown that the repulsive power of heat in the solar system has already received the attention of scientists, especially in France. This will be seen more fully when we come to deal with the phenomena of comets' tails. One remarkable feature about comets' tails is, that they are always directed away from the sun, and various hypotheses have been advanced to account for that fact. Among them is the hypothesis of M. Faye, in which he assumes that there is a repulsive force which has its origin in the heat of the sun. This repulsive force is not propagated instantaneously, but the velocity of propagation is the same as that of a ray of light. By means of this repulsive power due to the heat of the sun, M. Faye explains how it is that the tails of comets are always turned away from the sun. Here, then, we have an indication of the existence of this repulsive force of heat which we are considering--a repulsive power which finds its source in the aetherial waves, which give rise to the phenomena of Heat, and to which we must look for the ultimate source of that repulsive power or Centrifugal Force which is to form the complementary power to the attractive force of Gravitation.
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[11] Lectures on Scientific Subjects.
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Art. 65. Direction of Ray of Heat.--The question as to the path which a ray of heat takes may best be attacked by finding out what is the path which a ray of light takes in its progress through the Aether. When we come to deal with light, we shall find that it has been experimentally proved that the path of a ray of light is that of a straight line through space; so that if we have any body emitting light, the rays of light will proceed from that body in straight lines, with decreasing intensity, according to the law of inverse squares, the same as Gravitation.
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It can readily be shown, that wherever there is light there is heat. For example, the radiant heat from the sun proceeds through space along with the light from the sun, and when one set of waves, the light waves for instance, are intercepted, the heat waves are also intercepted. Or, to take another illustration, when the sun is eclipsed, we feel the sun's heat as long as any portion of the sun is visible, but as soon as the sun is totally eclipsed, then the light waves disappear, and with it the heat waves. From this we can readily see, that not only do the heat and light waves from the sun proceed in the same straight line, but that they also travel at the same rate through space, at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. Then again the common lens, which is so familiar to every one, will prove the same fact by concentrating the rays of light to a focus, and by so doing will produce sufficient heat to burn a piece of paper, or even set fire to wood. If, therefore, the path of a ray of light be that of a straight line, proceeding from the luminous or lighted body, and the path of a ray of heat coincides with the path of a ray of light, the path of the ray of heat must also be in the [112] direction of a straight line from the heated or luminous body, which, as we shall see in a subsequent article, also decreases in intensity according to the law of inverse squares the same as Gravitation Attraction.
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Professor Tyndall, on the direction of a ray of heat,[12] states his opinion on the matter as follows: “A wave of Aether starting from a radiant point in all directions in a uniform medium constitutes a spherical shell, which expands with the velocity of light or of radiant heat. A ray of light or a ray of heat is a line perpendicular to the wave, and in the case here supposed, the rays would be the radii of the spherical shell.” From this it can be seen that a ray of light or heat corresponds to what is known as the radius vector of a circle (Art. 20), and therefore a ray of light and heat takes exactly the same path through space (if we consider the sun as the source of the light and heat) as the path of the attractive power of Gravitation. Collecting, therefore, our results from the preceding articles of this chapter, we learn that heat is due to vibrating wave motion of the Aether, and that that motion is a motion which is always directed from the central body which is the source of the heat; and further, that this motion amounts to a repulsive motion acting in an opposite direction to the attractive power of gravity or to the centripetal force of Gravitation. What is more remarkable still, the path of a ray of heat corresponds with, and takes up exactly the same direction through space, whether it be atomic space, solar space, or interstellar space, as the attractive force of Gravitation.
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Looking at the subject from the standpoint of the solar system, with the sun as the central body, we see that while we have the sun, which acts as the controlling centre of the particular system of planets, holding all the planets in their orbits by its attractive power, yet at the same time it is also the source of all light and heat. Now heat being due to the wave motion of the aetherial medium, such motion being always exerted from the central body, we arrive at the only legitimate conclusion that can be arrived at, viz. that the sun is also the source of a repulsive motion, which motion coincides with the path that the attractive power of Gravitation takes, that is, along the radius vector of the circle, as shown in Art. 20.
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Art. 66. Law of Inverse Squares applied to Heat.--The law of inverse squares which governs not only the Law of Gravitation Attraction (Art. 22), but also electricity and light, is equally applicable to the phenomena of heat, so that we say the intensity of heat varies [113] inversely as the square of the distance. Thus, if we double the distance of any body from the
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source of heat, the amount of heat which such a body receives at the increased distance is one-quarter of the heat compared with its original position. If the distance were trebled, then the intensity of the heat would be reduced to one-ninth; while if the distance were four times as great, the intensity of the heat would only be one-sixteenth of what it would receive in its first position. This may be proved from experiments as given by Tyndall in his Heat, a Mode of Motion.
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Let us apply the law of inverse squares in relation to heat to the solar system, and see what the result gives. In our solar system, we have the sun as the central body, the source of all light and heat, with the eight planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, describing orbits around the central body, and at the same time receiving from it the light and heat which the sun is ever pouring forth into space. The mean distance of Mercury from the sun is about 36,000,000 miles, while that of the Earth is about 92,000,000 miles, so that reckoning the distance of Mercury as unity, the distance of the Earth is a little more than 2-1/2 times that of Mercury from the sun. Now the square of 2-1/2 is 25/4, and that inverted gives us 4/25, so that according to the law of inverse squares, the intensity of heat at the Earth's distance from the sun is 4/25 of what the intensity of heat is at the mean distance of Mercury. Again, the mean distance of Mars is 141,000,000 miles, while the mean distance of Saturn is 884,000,000 miles, and taking Mars' distance from the sun as unity, the distance of Saturn would be represented by 6-1/4. Now the square of 6-1/4 is (25/4)2 which gives 625/16 and the inverse of that is 16/625, so that the intensity of heat at the distance of Saturn's mean distance from the sun, in comparison with the intensity of heat at Mars' mean distance, would be about 16/625; or in other words, the heat received by Saturn would be only 16/625 of the intensity of heat received by the planet Mars. In Art. 63 we have seen that heat is a repulsive motion, being a wave motion of the Aether which is propagated from the heated and central body, which in this case is the sun. Therefore, according to the law of inverse squares from the standpoint of heat, we find in the solar system a repulsive motion, due to the wave motion of the Aether, which is always exerted away from the sun in the same path that the centripetal force takes, and which like that force diminishes in intensity inversely as the square of the distance. So that, wherever the centripetal force, or the attractive force of Gravitation, is diminished on account of the increased distance from the sun, the repulsive motion due to heat is also diminished in [114] exactly the same proportion and along exactly the same path. If at any point in the solar system the attractive force is doubled, then according to our repulsive theory of heat, and the law of inverse squares, the repulsive motion is also doubled. If the attractive force is halved, then the repulsive motion is halved also, the repulsive motion being always and at all places exactly proportional to the increase or decrease of the attraction of Gravitation.
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[12] Heat, a Mode of Motion.
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Art. 67. First Law of Thermodynamics.--The Law of Thermodynamics is based on two fundamental truths which have reference to the conversion of Heat into Work, and Work into Heat. In Art. 54 we have already seen that energy in the form of heat, light, electricity and magnetism is capable of being converted into other forms of energy, while in Art. 59 we have seen that Joule gave us the exact relation in foot-pounds between heat and work. He showed that when 1 lb. of water fell through 772 feet its temperature was raised one degree Fahr. Thus the principle underlying the first law of thermodynamics states, that whenever work is spent in producing heat, the amount of work done is proportionate to the quantity of heat generated; and conversely, whenever heat is employed to do work, a certain amount of heat is used up, which is the equivalent of the work done. This principle is also in accord with the conservation of Energy and Motion (Arts. 52 and 57), which assert that whenever energy or motion disappears in one form, it is manifested in some other form. Thus, from the first law of thermodynamics, we learn that wherever we have heat we have the power to do work, and the amount of work so done is proportionate to the heat used up. Heat, then, has a capacity to perform work, and that power is known as the mechanical equivalent of
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heat. Both Mayer of Germany, and Dr. Joule of Manchester, have worked out this problem, and have given us the mechanical value of heat. By experiments Mayer found out that a quantity of heat sufficient to raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr. in temperature was able to raise a weight 771.4 lb. one foot high. Dr. Joule of Manchester, after making a number of experiments which lasted over many years, came to the conclusion that the mechanical equivalent of a unit heat was 772 foot-pounds, a unit of heat being the quantity of heat which would raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr. So that if a 1-lb. weight fell from a height of 772 feet, an amount of heat is generated which would raise 1 lb. of water one degree Fahr.; and conversely, to lift 1 lb. 772 feet high, one degree Fahr. of heat would be consumed.
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Now if this law of thermodynamics is true, it must not only be true in relation to terrestrial [115] heat, or heat produced by artificial means on our earth, but it must equally hold good in relation to the solar system; and not only the solar system, but equally true throughout all the systems of worlds that flood the universe. So that wherever we get heat in the universe, in the solar system for example, there, according to our first law of thermodynamics, we should have the capacity to do work of some kind or other. That work may take either the form of expanding a body, as the atmosphere of a planet for example, or it may take a mechanical form, that is, actually moving a body by the increased pressure due to aetherial heat waves generated by the sun. We have already seen in Art. 64, on Radiant Heat, what a store of heat the sun has. For thousands and millions of years the sun has been pouring forth its heat rays into space, and yet its temperature does not seem to be diminished. The great Carboniferous or coal period of past geological times is an indication of the heat and light of the sun, which it must have radiated out millions of years ago; and year by year, these aetherial heat waves are still being poured forth by the sun on every side into space, so that no matter where a planet may be in its orbit, there it may be the recipient of these aetherial heat waves which break upon its surface. Now if there be this quantity of heat existing in the sun, and heat according to the first law of thermodynamics has a mechanical value, which is that it can push or lift a body through space, the question arises, as to what is the mechanical value of this heat of the sun? Are we to suppose that if one unit of heat can lift 1 lb. 772 feet, the millions and millions of units of heat which are constantly being poured out of the sun into space are doing no work at all? Such an assumption is not only contrary to that simplicity which governs our Philosophy, but is entirely opposed to experience, which is the very foundation of all philosophical reasoning. If, therefore, experience is to be any guide at all, we are compelled to come to the conclusion that the heat poured forth into space does do work on the bodies, as comets, meteors, planets, upon which the aetherial heat waves fall. The problem is, what is the character of the work done? I have already indicated part of the work, viz. in the expansion of the atmosphere of the planets. Then there is also the reception of the heat by the animal and vegetable life of the planet, but these do not account for all the motive power of the aetherial waves, which break upon the planet or its atmospheres.
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The true solution of the first law of thermodynamics, in its relation to the solar system, seems to me to be found in the fact already stated in Art. 63, viz. that heat is a repulsive motion, and the law of thermodynamics confirms that statement, and shows that the work [116] done on a planet by the aetherial heat waves is that of pushing it, or urging it by their very energy and motion away from their controlling centre, the sun. This would practically amount to a repulsive force which had its home in the sun, and this conception would bring our Philosophy into harmony with our experience, which teaches us that wherever there is heat there is the capacity of doing work, the amount of work being proportionate to the heat generated and consumed.
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Art. 68. Second Law of Thermodynamics.--This law was enunciated by Sadi Carnot in 1824, when he wrote an essay on the Motive Power of Heat. Previous to the time of Carnot no definite relation seems to have been suggested between work and heat; Carnot, however,
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discovered what were those general laws which govern the relation between heat and work. In arriving at his conclusion, he based his results on the truth of the principle of the conservation of energy already referred to (Art. 52).
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Carnot started his reasoning on the assumption that heat was matter, and therefore indestructible. The two great truths in relation to heat and work, enunciated by Carnot, are known as, first, a Cycle of operations; and, secondly, what he termed a Reversible Cycle. In order to be able to reason upon the work done by a heat-engine, say a steam-engine for example, Carnot stated we must imagine a cycle of operations, by which, at the end of such operations, the steam or water is brought back to exactly the same state in which it was at its start. He calls this a cycle of operations, and of it he says, that only at the conclusion of the cycle are we entitled to reason upon the relation between the work done and the heat spent in doing it. His other idea of the reversible cycle implies that an engine is reversible when, instead of using heat and getting work from it, the engine may be driven through the cycle of operations the reverse way, that is, by taking in work, it can pump back heat to the boiler again. Carnot showed that if you can obtain such a reversible engine, it is a perfect engine. All perfect engines, that is all reversible engines, will do exactly the same amount of work with the same amount of heat, the amount of work being strictly proportionate to the amount of heat consumed. I need hardly point out that the reversible engine, or the perfect engine of Carnot, is only the ideal one, as there is no engine in which all the heat is converted into work, as a great deal of the heat is radiated away and not converted into work at all. Again, working from the standpoint that heat is matter, Carnot reasoned that in the heat-engine the work is performed, not by the actual consumption of heat, but by its [117] transportation from a hot body to a cold one. Thus, by the fall of heat from a higher to a lower temperature, work could be done in the same way that work could be done by allowing water to fall from a higher to a lower level. The quantity of water which reaches the lower level is exactly the same as that which leaves the higher level, as none of the water is destroyed in the fall. He argued, therefore, that the work produced by a heat-engine was produced in a similar manner, the quantity of heat which reaches the condenser being supposed to be equal to that which left the source. Thus the work was done by the heat flowing from a hot body to a cold one, and, in doing this work, it lost its momentum like falling water, and was brought to rest. One of the most important points noted by Carnot is the necessity that, in all engines which derive work from heat, there must be two bodies at different temperatures, that is, a source and a condenser, which correspond to a hot and cold body, so that there may be the passage of heat from the hot to the cold body. In order to get work out of heat it is absolutely necessary to have a hotter and a colder body. From this reasoning we learn, therefore, that work is obtained from heat by using up the heat of the hotter body, part of which is converted into actual work, while part is absorbed by the colder body. So that wherever we have two bodies at different temperatures, according to the second law of thermodynamics, there we have the power of doing work by the transmission of heat, from the body of higher to the one of lower temperature.
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That Carnot ultimately came to believe in the dynamical theory of heat, is proved by the following passage taken from his notes on the Motive Power of Heat: “It would be ridiculous to suppose that it is an emission of matter, while the light which accompanies it could only be a movement. Could a motion produce matter? No! undoubtedly, it can only produce a motion. Heat is then the result of motion. It is plain then that it could be produced by the consumption of motive power, and that it could produce this power. Heat is then simply motive power, or rather motion which has changed its form. It is a movement among the particles of bodies. Wherever there is a destruction of motive power, there is at the same time production of heat in quantity exactly proportional to the quantity of motive power destroyed. Reciprocally, whenever there is destruction of heat there is production of motive power.”
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Let us apply this principle to the solar system, and endeavour to find out whether in that system we have, in relation to the heat thereof, either a cycle of operations or a reversible cycle. We have again to consider the sun as the source of all light and heat in the solar [118] system, radiating forth on every side, year by year, the countless units of heat which go to form the continuance of all planetary life and existence. One of the problems that has confronted scientific men for many years is this, Where does the sun get its supply of heat from? When we remember the incessant loss of heat which the sun suffers through its radiation of heat into space, we are compelled to ask, How is that supply maintained, and how has it been kept up through the countless ages of the past? Several suggestions have been made, and several theories advanced to account for the fact. Mayer, of Germany, suggested that the heat is partly maintained by the falling into the sun of meteors, which, like comets, pursue a path through the heavens, and are subject to the attractive influence of the sun. In the combustion of these meteorites, or meteors, he contended there were the means by which the light and heat of the sun might be maintained. Whatever theory, however, may be suggested as to the maintenance and the source of the continuity of the sun's heat, I do not think it has been suggested by any scientist that the heat emitted and radiated by the sun is ever returned in any way back to the sun from infinite space, whether by reflection or by any other method. So far as I can learn, there are no facts in connection with the solar system which would lead us to make that assumption. On the contrary, experience and experiment teach us that radiation implies loss of heat, and that the body, which so radiates, ultimately becomes cold, unless its internal heat is kept up by some means or other. So that the terms introduced by Carnot in the second law of thermodynamics, viz. that of a Cycle of Operations and of a Reversible Cycle, do not apply to the solar system, and the solar system, viewed from the standpoint of a machine, with the sun as the source of the heat, does not represent a perfect engine, that is, all the heat is not used up in doing work, some of it being radiated out into space. Wherever, however, the heat, that is the aetherial heat waves generated by the sun, comes into contact with a planet, as Mercury, Venus, or Jupiter, then, in accordance with Carnot's reasoning, work is done. Carnot points out that, in order for work to be done, we must have a source and a condenser, that is, two bodies at different temperatures, a hot body and a cold one. Now these conditions of work are satisfactorily fulfilled in the solar system, and as a result work is performed. We have the sun with its huge fires, and its intensity of heat, representing the source or the hot body, while every planet and every meteor and comet, that come under its influence, represent the cold body, and between the two work is always going on. That work is represented by the repulsive power of heat, which I have already indicated, so that, [119] viewed from Carnot's standpoint with relation to the motive power of heat, we find that there are in the solar system those conditions which govern work, and by which, from a mechanical standpoint, work is performed; further, that work takes the form of a repulsive power on every planet or other body upon which the aetherial heat waves fall. Therefore, from the second law of thermodynamics we have another proof of this repulsive power of heat already indicated and referred to in Art. 63.
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Art. 69. Identity of Heat and Light.--We have seen from the preceding articles of this chapter, that heat is due to a periodic wave motion of the Aether, and in the succeeding chapter we shall also see that light is due to some kind of periodic wave motion in the Aether. So that not only heat, but light also, it would appear, is due to certain periodic wave motions that are set up in the Aether by the vibrations of hot or luminous bodies. The question therefore arises, how many wave motions are there in the Aether? Are there different wave motions which in one case produce light, and in the other case produce heat, or are light and heat both produced by the same set of aetherial waves? The identity of light waves with heat waves is manifested by the fact that wherever we get light we get heat, as can be proved in many ways. One of the simplest proofs is found in the common lens or burning-glass, by which the light waves are brought to a focus, and as a result, heat is manifested. Although there is this close identity between light and heat waves, yet there
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must be some distinction between the heat and light waves, because while light waves affect the eye, heat waves do not. There is actually a difference between the two kinds of waves, and that difference is one of period or length. It must not, however, be thought that there are really two classes or sets of waves in the Aether, one of which could be called light waves, and the other heat waves, but rather the same wave may be manifested in two different forms because of its different wave lengths. In one case the waves may affect the eye, and we have the sensation of sight, but in the other case they affect the body, and we experience the sensation of warmth. An analogy from the waves of sound may make these facts much clearer. We know that sound travels about 1100 feet per second. If, therefore, we have a bell which vibrates about 1100 times per second, we should have a wave one foot long. If it vibrated 100 times per second the waves would be 11 feet long, while if it vibrated only 11 times per second, the waves would be 100 feet long. Now the impression made upon the ear depends upon the number of vibrations the bell makes per second, and from the rate of vibration we get the idea of pitch. If the vibrations are very rapid, then we get a note of high [120] pitch, and if the vibrations are slow, then we get a note of low pitch. A note of high pitch, therefore, will correspond to waves of short length, while a low note will correspond to waves of a greater length; so that the greater the rapidity with which a sounding bell vibrates, the shorter will be the length of the sound waves which it generates, and vice versâ. The range of the ear however for sound waves is limited, so that if the vibrations be too rapid or too slow, the ear may not be able to respond to the vibrations, and so no distinct impression of the sound will be conveyed to the brain. It need hardly be pointed out, that both the very short and long waves are of exactly the same character as those of a medium length, which the ear can detect, the only difference being one of rapidity. We do not therefore suggest that in the case of sound, where the vibrations lie outside the compass of the ear, those which lie outside are not sound waves, or that they are different from those which lie within the compass of the ear, and which the ear can detect. Whether the sound waves are long or short, whether they can be detected by the ear or not, we still say that all are sound waves, and that all are due to the vibrations of the sounding body, which vibrations are transmitted through the air, in waves, that fall upon the tympanum or drum of the ear, and set that vibrating, which vibrations are transmitted to the auditory nerve and so give rise to the sensation of hearing. In a similar manner, every atom and every particle of matter, every planet, every sun and star, is constantly in a state of vibration, sending off aetherial waves on every side. Nothing in Nature is absolutely cold, nothing is absolutely still. Therefore all matter, whether in the atomic form, or in the planetary or solar world, is constantly generating aetherial waves, which travel from their source or origin with the velocity of light. If these aetherial waves so generated fall within certain limits, then they affect the eye, and we get the sensation of sight. To do this they must vibrate 5000 billion times per second, and if they fail to do this, they fail to give rise to the sensation of sight. If the aetherial waves fall below this limit, then they affect the body, and give rise to the sensation of heat. For it must be remembered, that as the ear has a certain compass for sound waves, which may vary in different individuals, so the eye has also a certain compass for aetherial waves, with the result that some waves may be too slow or too rapid to affect the eye, and consequently fail to give rise to the sensation of sight. When that is so, the sensation of warmth helps us to detect these longer waves, so that the longer waves would warm us and make their presence felt in that manner. We shall
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that the intensity of heat is inversely as the square of the distance, and we shall also see in the succeeding chapter that the same law holds good in relation to light. We have seen (Art. 65) that the path of a ray of heat is that of a straight line; we shall see in the succeeding chapter that the path of a ray of light is that of a straight line also.
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Indeed, there is no law applicable to heat which is not applicable to light. The law of reflection and refraction of heat equally holds good in relation to light; and further, Professor Forbes has shown that heat can be polarized in a similar manner to the polarization of light. This last fact is considered the most conclusive argument as to the identity of light and heat, and proves that the only difference between the two is simply the difference corresponding to the difference between a high note and a low note in sound. That being so, I hope to be able to show that as heat possesses a dynamical value, so light equally possesses a dynamical value, and that as heat is a repulsive motion, then light must equally possess a similar repulsive motion, that motion always being directed from the central body, being caused by the same agency, viz. the waves of the Aether, the common source of both light and heat. I purpose to address myself to this subject in the following chapter, which I have termed Light, a Mode of Motion.
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[122]
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CHAPTER VII
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LIGHT, A MODE OF MOTION
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Art. 70. Light, a Mode of Motion.--No subject has in the past received greater attention from philosophers and scientists than that involved in the question as to “What is Light?” Indeed, it may truthfully be said, that even to-day its exact character is not positively known. That it is due like heat to some periodic wave motion in the Aether is known, but the exact character of that wave motion has yet to be determined. As in the case of heat, so in the case of light, there have been two theories which have contended with each other for supremacy in endeavouring to answer the question as to “What is Light?” Those two theories are known as the Emission or Corpuscular Theory, and the Undulatory or Wave Theory. The corpuscular theory was introduced and developed by Newton in his work on Optics, which ranks second only to the Principia as a work revealing masterly research and scientific genius. Newton supposed that a luminous or lighted body actually emitted minute particles, which were shot out from the body with the velocity of light, that is, at the rate of 186,000 miles per second. These minute particles he termed corpuscles. In the work just referred to regarding this matter, he asks the question, “Are not rays of light very small bodies emitted from shining substances?” These small particles or corpuscles were supposed by him to actually strike the retina of the eye, and so produce the sensation of Sight, in the same way that odorous particles entering the nostril, come into contact with the olfactory nerves and produce the sensation of Smell. In order, however, to account for certain phenomena of light, he was compelled to postulate an aetherial medium to fill all space, in which his luminous corpuscles travelled, and which would excite waves in that medium. In his eighteenth query on this point he asks: “Is not the heat of a warm room conveyed through the vacuum by the vibration of a much subtler medium than air, and is not this medium the same with that medium by which light is reflected or refracted, and by whose vibrations light communicates Heat to bodies, and is put into fits of easy reflection and easy transmission?” The corpuscular theory, however, received its death-blow when, in competition with the wave theory of light, as developed by Young, it was found that the [123] latter theory satisfactorily accounted for certain phenomena as the refraction of light, which the corpuscular theory did not adequately account for. Even while Newton was developing his theory, Huyghens, a contemporary of Newton, was developing another theory which is now known as the undulatory or wave theory. Huyghens drew his conclusions from the analogy of sound. He knew that sounds were propagated by waves through the air, and from
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the region of the known, endeavoured to carry the principle into the region of the unknown, a strictly philosophical method, and one in accordance with the second Rule of Philosophy. He supposed that light, therefore, like sound, might be due to wave motion, but if it were wave motion, there must have been a medium to propagate the waves. In order to account for this wave motion, he supposed all space to be filled with a luminiferous Aether, which would be to his light waves what air is to sound waves. In this conception he was supported by Euler the mathematician, and in 1690 he was able to give a satisfactory explanation of the reflection and refraction of light, on the hypothesis that light was due to wave motion in the Aether. It was not, however, till the advent of Thomas Young, that the undulatory or wave theory reached its perfection, and finally overthrew its competitor the corpuscular theory. Young made himself thoroughly acquainted with wave motion of all kinds, and applied his knowledge and experience to the phenomena of light, and from the analogies so obtained, he gradually built up the undulatory theory, and gave to it a foundation from which it has not yet been moved. Young made use of the same aetherial medium in order to propagate the wave motion of light in the same way that Huyghens did. From that conception, the Aether has been gradually perfected, until we have the conception which has been presented to the reader in Chapter IV., in which I have endeavoured to show that this aetherial medium is matter, but infinitely more rarefied and infinitely more elastic, but notwithstanding its extreme rarefaction and elasticity, it possesses inertia, because it is gravitative. It is this Aether, then, that is concerned in the propagation of light, and is the universal medium which is to light what air is to sound. Young, therefore, having applied himself to the wave motion of sound, from such researches was able to explain the physical cause of colour, and that phenomenon termed interference.
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We will therefore look at wave motion, in order to understand the wave theory of light.
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Now in all wave motion, whether it be water waves or sound waves, that which is propagated or conveyed from place to place is energy, or motion. If a stone is thrown into [124] water, a series of concentric circles of waves are generated, which spread out with increasing size, but decreasing power or motion, regularly on all sides. The water, however, does not move away from the generating source. There is a motion of the water, but it is simply a wave motion, so that the propagation of a wave is the propagation of motion, rather than the transference of the actual water which constitutes the wave. In the case of sound waves, we have again an illustration of the same principle. For example, suppose we strike a bell, and so set the particles of that bell in a state of vibration. These vibrations give the air in contact with the bell a forward movement, and then, owing to the elasticity and inertia of the air, a backward movement is set up, with the result that a series of waves are set in motion from the bell on every side, which gradually diminish in intensity the farther they recede from the generating body. According to the wave theory, therefore, we have to picture all heated and luminous bodies in a state of vibration, and the atoms of such luminous bodies imparting the vibrations to the atoms of the Aether, in the same way that the atoms of a bell impart their vibrations to the atoms of the air in contact with it. These vibrations are then propagated through the Aether in waves, which, entering the eye, impinge or strike upon the retina at the back of the eye, and being transmitted to the brain give rise to the sensation of sight. It must not be forgotten that the waves of Aether, as pointed out in Art. 64 in relation to heat, really form spherical shells which radiate out in all directions from the central body which gives rise to them. Thus it can be seen, that all points in the spherical wave which are at equal distances from the vibratory or luminous body, must possess the same intensity, and possess equal lighting powers. Light, therefore, like heat, is due to a periodic wave motion set up in the Aether by the vibrating atomic motion of heated or luminous bodies. It must be also noticed, that if we could see the air through which the sound waves are passing, we should see that each atom or particle of the atmosphere was vibrating to and fro in the direction of propagation. If, however, we could see an atom of Aether in vibration, accepting the principle that Aether is atomic, we should see that each aetherial atom is not vibrating in the direction of propagation, but across the
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line in which the wave is travelling. Thus the vibration of the air is said to be longitudinal, but the vibrations of the Aether are transversal. An illustration of the transverse motion of a light wave may be obtained by taking a rope and imparting to it a series of undulations by shaking it up and down, when it will be observed that the wave motion of the rope is transverse to the straight line in which it is propagated. The physical explanation of the [125] transverse vibration of light will be dealt with in a subsequent article.
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Now the question suggests itself to our mind, as to what effect the atomicity of the Aether has upon the undulatory theory of light. Does it establish it upon a firmer basis, or does it in any way destroy its truth as a theory? I venture to think that the atomicity of the Aether in no sense destroys any part of the undulatory theory of light, but rather tends to confirm and establish it upon a logical and philosophical basis.
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For instance, as has been pointed out in Art. 47, in order for the undulatory theory to have any existence at all, it is essential that the Aether should possess the property of elasticity. But how the Aether possessed the property of elasticity while at the same time it was frictionless, and therefore possessed no mass, has been a problem that has taxed the ingenuity and resources of scientists for a century past, and up to the present is a problem which still remains unsolved. Now, however, with our atomic Aether, it is just as easy to conceive Aether transmitting a wave as it is for air to transmit sound waves, or water to transmit water waves.
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Tyndall, in his Lectures on Light, seems to have appreciated the difficulty, and to avoid confusion, again and again refers to a particle of Aether. While Huyghens himself in speculating upon the elasticity of the Aether in his Traité de la Lumière, 1678, makes a suggestion as to its origin, which practically amounts to the fact that the aetherial atom which gives rise to this elasticity is the core or centre of a vortex ring. Thus it can be seen that the elasticity of the Aether, so essential to the undulatory theory, is a problem that cannot be solved apart from recognizing the hypothesis of an atomic Aether.
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Then, again, in the undulatory theory of light, the density of the Aether around molecules of bodies has to be taken into consideration to account for such phenomena as the refraction and reflection of light, but, as we have seen in Art. 46, such a property as density is inconceivable in connection with a medium which is neither atomic and possesses no mass. On the assumption, however, of an atomic and gravitative Aether, the difficulty is at once solved, and the density of the Aether, and different degrees of density are at once placed upon a logical and philosophical basis. So that in relation to the elasticity and density of the Aether upon which the transmission and reflection of wave motion depend, an atomic and gravitative Aether establishes and confirms the undulatory theory.
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There is also another aspect of the subject that is worthy of notice. I refer to the effect of an atomic and gravitative Aether upon Newton's corpuscular theory of light. Newton's [126] corpuscular theory failed in not being able to account for the relative velocity of light in rare and denser media, and if by an atomic Aether in conjunction with the undulatory theory, the phenomenon can be accounted for, as I believe it can, then our aetherial vortex atoms are analogous to Newton's corpuscles. This distinction will, however, have to be made, viz. that Newton supposed his luminous corpuscles to be emitted by the luminous body, whereas in the conception of our aetherial atoms, we conceive them to be stationary relatively in space, and only subject to those vibrations and oscillations that give rise to the aetherial waves recognized in the undulatory theory.
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It would indeed be a consummation to be desired, if, by an atomic Aether, it can be proved that Newton's Corpuscular Theory was made to harmonize with the Undulatory Theory, and that it can be I am profoundly convinced. Professor Preston is also of this view, for in his Theory of Light, writing on this subject, he says, page 19: “In conclusion, we may state that we believe an ingenious exponent of the emission theory, by suitably framing his
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fundamental postulates, might fairly meet all the objections that have been raised against it.”
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We will now apply the hypothesis of an atomic and gravitating Aether to Huyghens' principle of wave propagation, and see if this atomicity in any way destroys that principle, or whether it simplifies and confirms it.
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Let us briefly review our conception of the Aether before making the application. In the first place, because Aether is gravitative, we learned from Art. 45 that it surrounds all bodies in the universe, from the smallest atom to the largest sun or star in the firmament of heaven. Our sun, then, which is to our system the source of all its light, will be surrounded by what are practically spherical aetherial envelopes or shells which decrease in density as they recede from the sun (Art. 46). These aetherial shells are, according to our conception, made up of minute aetherial spherical vortex atoms possessing polarity and rotation (Art. 43), and these atoms will be closer together the nearer they are to the central body, because of the increased density of the Aether due to the attractive influence of the sun. Thus, when a wave motion is set up in the Aether around the sun by the intense atomic activity of that incandescent body, each atom of that aetherial spherical shell or envelope participates in the motion or impulse received, at one and the same time, so that the wave is transmitted from envelope to envelope, by the elasticity of the aetherial atoms which compose the envelope or shell. Thus the light wave is always spherical in form, or nearly so, as the rotational and orbital motion of the sun affect the exact shape of the aetherial envelope as we shall learn [127] more fully later on.
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Further, the wave front always takes the form of a sphere, as the waves are radiated out from the luminous body in all directions, and we shall learn, in the next article, that the vibrations are always in the wave front, that is, take place on the surface of each of these envelopes, and these vibrations are also transverse to the propagation of the wave. As these aetherial envelopes extend right into space, the wave is transmitted from envelope to envelope by means of the aetherial atoms with the velocity of 186,000 miles per second, but as each succeeding envelope possesses a larger surface than the preceding one, the intensity of the light is proportionally decreased. The surface of such envelope is always proportionate to the square of the radius, the other quantities remaining equal. So that the intensity of the light waves, which are coincident with the surface of each spherical envelope, will always vary inversely as the square of the distance from the luminous body, which agrees with the law of inverse squares that governs light and heat.
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We have considered the wave motion as a whole, that is, we have viewed it from the standpoint of the whole of the aetherial elastic envelope. Now we will look at the subject from the atomic standpoint, and see if it is in accordance with Huyghens' principle of wave propagation.
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We will suppose that an undulatory movement is started by a luminous body at point A situated in the Aether, and surrounded by that medium. A may represent a part of any luminous body, as the sun or star, while B C and B' C' represent a segment of the aetherial
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envelopes already referred to, which exist around the sun. We will further suppose that the small dots surrounding the luminous body represent the aetherial atoms forming the envelope, which transmit the impulse or energy received from the atomic vibrations of the luminous body. As each aetherial atom is moved or pushed forwards, each atom directly in [128] contact with it accepts and transmits the impulse. But each of these atoms stands in relation to those in front of them, as they did in relation to the first row of atoms, so to speak, and therefore exert a corresponding impulse on the front row.
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But the third row stands in relation to the fourth row as the second row did to the third, and so on to infinity. Thus each atom being surrounded by other atoms may be looked on as the centre of a new wave system, so that every particle of the wave system is itself a centre of a new wave system which is transmitted in all directions. As these innumerable and minute wave systems co-operate with one another, they form a principal wave system which is coincident with the surface of the spherical envelope, part of which is represented by B C. Then if we conceive of all the aetherial atoms in part of the principal wave system B C, as themselves becoming the centre of wave propagation, by their wave systems the principal wave will be transmitted further on into space to another aetherial envelope B' C', which represents part of another principal wave, which again is coincident with the surface of one of the spherical aetherial envelopes. So that by the action of the aetherial atoms which exist on all sides of the luminous body, the aetherial wave can be transmitted from atom to atom in more or less spherical form.
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Now let us compare this explanation of the transmission of light by an atomic Aether with the celebrated Huyghens' principle which is thus enunciated. “When an undulatory movement propagates itself through an elastic medium, every particle imitates the movement of the particle first excited. But every particle stands in relation to the adjoining ones in exactly the same relation that the first particle did to its neighbours, and consequently must exert upon those surrounding it, exactly the same influence as the first did. Every vibratory particle is therefore to be regarded as if it were the originally excited particle of the wave system; and as the innumerable and simultaneous elementary wave systems co-operate with one another at each instant, we obtain exactly that principal wave system by which the elastic medium appears at any moment to be moved.” Now here, in this statement, we have the definite term particles used several times by Huyghens. But in the generally accepted theory of the Aether, such a term is unknown and unrecognized, with the obvious result that the definite and simple statement of Huyghens loses all its simplicity and meaning. Replace, however, the non-atomic Aether as at present recognized, by an atomic and gravitating Aether, and then Huyghens' exposition or principle stands out in all its simplicity and clearness, and finds in an atomic Aether its literal fulfilment and complete [129] verification.
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In conclusion on this point, viz. that light is a mode of aetherial motion, let us endeavour to form a mental picture of our atomic and aetherial world. We have to remember that every particle and atom of matter in existence are ever vibrating, and by their vibrations are ever creating and generating Aether waves in the aetherial medium. These waves, begetting others, the process is continued until they are either intercepted and brought to rest by other matter, or else speed away until they reach the boundary of space.
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Now it is scarcely necessary for me to say, that if one atom can create and generate these Aether waves, a thousand atoms can create them in greater abundance still, and millions of atoms in even still greater abundance, and so on in proportion to the quantity or bulk of the matter vibrating. Further, as it is with quantity, so will it be with intensity, or activity of vibration. The more intensely an atom vibrates, the more intense would be the movement of the generated Aether waves, and the intensity would be in exact proportion to the intensity of the motion of the atoms vibrating. In regard to the power of atomic motions or vibrations, those are the greatest and most intense in energy or motion, which are produced by
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combustion or burning. The chemical activity by which the burning is brought about arouses and excites the atoms of matter subject thereto, into an intensity of motion, thousands, it may be millions of times greater than can be produced by any other known means. Therefore it can be readily seen, that the Aether waves generated by this means will be greater and more abundant, both in their volume and intensity, than the Aether waves produced merely by a cold body. For example, take a candle at night-time when the light has disappeared; look at it and feel it. Though its atoms are all in motion, generating Aether waves which are impressed with its own particular form and colour, yet it can scarcely be seen even at a short distance; but light it, and what a change takes place! We can both see it, and are enabled by its light to see other things also. By the power of combustion, its atoms have been excited into greater energy or motion, generating and speeding Aether waves on every side, and these Aether waves being reflected and re-reflected by the atoms of the air, and the walls of the house, give light to all that are in the house. I must now ask the reader to refer to Art. 64 on Radiant Heat, in order that we may recall facts regarding the heat of the sun. Remembering the intensity of the heat of the sun as calculated by Herschel and others, and remembering that the sun is 1,200,000 times larger in volume than our earth, the [130] question naturally suggests itself to our mind, what must be the volume and intensity of the light waves as they flow from the sun into space? What a storm of fury and of motion must there be within the aetherial atmosphere around the sun, and with what volume and power must these light waves speed away from so mighty a source! Some idea may be gained from the fact that they speed away to the distant Neptune, a distance of nearly three thousand millions of miles, and impart to that planet the energy of light and heat which to the planet forms the physical source of all its life and activities. Thus from the sun, the centre of the solar system, there are ever being poured forth into space these aetherial light waves. The solar fires are ever glowing, and their flames ever burning, robing the solar disc with its quivering fringe, or madly leaping on every side to a distance of one hundred thousand miles, and by their madness lashing the aetherial atmosphere into fury, creating aetherial waves, myriads upon myriads, and sending them with lightning speed across the intervening space. As swift-footed messengers they come, the bearers of life and beauty to distant planets. They come to this our island home in space, these aetherial light waves, like rich argosies freighted with the treasures of light, of life, of beauty, and of glory, and the transmission of this life and beauty is effected by the incessant wave motion generated in the Aether by the central body of our solar system, the sun. Let us therefore endeavour to form a mental picture of this aetherial wave motion with its transverse vibrations.
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Art. 71. Transverse Vibration of Light.--In the previous article we saw that the vibration of light was transverse to the line of propagation. If we could see the particles of air which are vibrating when sound waves are produced, we should find that each particle or atom is vibrating backwards and forwards in the direction of propagation.
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In the case of an aetherial atom, however, which, according to our own theory, participates
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in the vibration, we have to try to conceive of each atom as vibrating across the line of
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propagation. So that if A B represents a ray of light proceeding from a luminous body, as the
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sun (Fig. 5), then the vibration must be across the line, as up and down and across that line
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as shown in the figure, each phase of the vibration being at right angles to the line of
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propagation--that is, to A B. How can we form a physical conception of this phenomenon?
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There must be some physical explanation to it, for if it be an effect there must be a cause for
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its existence and production. Up to the present, however, no physical explanation has been
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forthcoming, so that for over 200 years a frictionless medium has failed to account for, or to
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explain, the transverse vibration of light as suggested by Fresnel.
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[131]
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If, therefore, by the hypothesis of an atomic and gravitative Aether, we succeed in accomplishing a result that a frictionless Aether has failed to accomplish, then the explanation will be a most important factor in proving the atomicity and consequent gravitative property of the Aether.
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Let us therefore revert to our hypothesis of the Aether as given in Art. 45. From that we learn, because Aether is atomic, it is also gravitative, and therefore forms around every atom and molecule, every satellite, planet, sun and star, an aetherial atmosphere--such aetherial atmosphere being doubtless proportionate to the mass of the atom or molecule or planet as the case may be, in accordance with the Law of Gravitation. We shall consider this view of the subject later on.
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Thus we learn that every particle of matter, and every body in the universe has its aetherial atmosphere so to speak, to which it is held bound by the universal Law of Gravitation. In the case of a satellite or planet or sun or star, that atmosphere will be more or less spherical in shape, decreasing in density as it recedes from the attracting body. As we saw in the previous chapter, Tyndall stated that the waves of light really formed spherical shells which surrounded the luminous body. In the conception of an atomic and gravitating Aether we can form a physical conception of these aetherial shells, which can be pictured as elastic [132] envelopes, or rather series of envelopes surrounding each particle of matter, and also surrounding each satellite, planet, sun, and star; each envelope getting gradually less and less dense as the distance from the central body is increased.
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Now we learn from experiments that the vibration is always in the wave front, but the wave front is coincident with the surface of each aetherial spherical shell, therefore the vibration must be in, and coincide with, the surfaces of the spherical shells that are formed around every body in the universe.
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We are now, however, dealing specially with one body which is the source of light, viz. the sun, and have therefore to picture the sun as being surrounded by these aetherial elastic envelopes, which gradually get less and less dense as they recede from it. What, therefore, will be the effect of the heat of that body as it is poured forth into space? We have already learned (Art. 63) of the untold quantity of heat that is continually being poured forth into space from the sun with its diameter of 856,000 miles, and its circumference of over 2-1/2 million miles. What intense activity it must generate in the Aether near its surface! and what must be the direct effect of that heat upon the aetherial elastic envelopes or shells which surround it?
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Perhaps the answer can be best illustrated by a simple experiment. Let us take an ordinary toy balloon, with its elastic envelope, and fill it moderately full with air, and observe what the effect on it is when we put it near the fire. Gradually, as heat is imparted to the air in the
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balloon, the air which is also elastic expands, with the result that the envelope of the balloon is extended, and its size enlarged. Now withdraw it from the fire and note what happens.
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As the air inside gets cold again, the elastic envelope of the balloon gradually shrinks, until it has been reduced to its former size. What has been taking place during this experiment with regard to the elastic envelope and the atoms thereof? May we not say that there has been a vibration or oscillation, among the particles which go to make up the elastic envelope, that forms the surface of the balloon? Certainly there has been some form of motion, and that motion took first the form of an expansion, and then contraction of the individual particles; and we have only to conceive of this process being repeated quickly and continuously, to form a mental picture of what takes place in any aetherial elastic envelope or shell that surrounds the sun.
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The illustration is not, however, perfect, because we have made the source of heat to be outside instead of inside the elastic envelope, as is the case with the sun and its aetherial atmosphere or envelope. We will therefore slightly modify the experiment, and take two [133] balloons, A, B, one smaller than the other, and put the smaller one A into the interior of the larger one, inflating the smaller one, so that it can be situated in the middle of the larger one, the latter having twice the diameter of the smaller one, as in the diagram (Fig. 6). To the neck of the smaller balloon A we will attach an india-rubber tube which ends in a closed bulb C. We have now the two balloons inflated. Let us press the bulb C and notice what happens. The effect will be exactly the same as it was when we brought the balloon in contact with the heat of the fire in the first experiment--that is, the elastic envelope will be again expanded. As soon as we take the pressure from the bulb C the envelope, being elastic, seeks to recover its original position, with the result that it springs back to its original size. If we pressed the bulb C 20 times per minute, we should get 20 vibrations of the particles of the envelopes per minute, and if we pressed it 1000 times per minute, we should get 1000 vibrations among the particles of the elastic envelope, so that the number of vibrations would correspond to the number of times we pressed the bulb. Now how did this vibration reach the elastic envelope of the balloon B from the balloon A?
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The reply is, by means of the particles, or atoms of air that exist between the two surfaces of the balloons, and that transmission would take the form of a wave propagated from particle to particle, so that we might put dots on the right side of A to represent the atoms of air which transmit the wave from A to B.
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But the vibration which takes place in the surface of the envelope of the outer balloon is across this line of propagation, because as the wave proceeds from A to B, the elastic envelope expands and stretches always across the line of propagation--that is, it stretches up [134] and down, left and right, as it is expanded outwards, so that the vibration or oscillation of the particles always takes place in the surface of the elastic envelope across the line of propagation. Let us therefore apply the result of this simple experiment to our solar system and the Aether, and see if it can be made to explain the transverse vibration of light. Let A represent the sun (Fig. 7) and B an aetherial elastic envelope surrounding the sun. In this case we dispense with the bulb C, as the sun possesses within itself the power to generate heat, and so to produce the required expansion of the elastic aetherial envelopes B, G, H, etc.
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Instead, however, of having air particles between A and B, we will put in their place our aetherial atoms which we have conceived according to Art. 44. These surround the sun, represented by A, forming elastic spherical shells or envelopes. As the sun radiates its heat into space, it urges the aetherial atoms against each other, with the result that they transmit the energy from atom to atom, or particle to particle, till they come to the elastic aetherial envelopes of H, G, B.
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The effect on B, or on any other aetherial envelope, is to expand it outwardly, and thus set the atoms of which it is composed into vibration. The wave, which is now an aetherial wave travelling with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second, may be represented by the line D E. But while it is travelling from D to E the same energy is being radiated out in all directions, so that a wave reaches the whole surface of the elastic envelope B at the same time, with the result that the whole of the shell or envelope is set in vibration as it expands outwardly.
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Thus the vibration is always in the wave front, and the wave front is always coincident with the surface of one of these envelopes, and as these aetherial envelopes are themselves [135] formed by aetherial atoms, the wave is spread outwardly from any central point in a spherical form as proved by experiment. Not only, therefore, is the vibration in the wave front, but it is always transverse to the line of propagation, for the simple reason that the surface of the spherical shell or envelope is always at right angles to the radius vector or straight line which joins any centre to the surface of a spherical envelope.
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As soon as the aetherial atom which forms the spherical aetherial envelope has reached the limit of its expansion, it seeks to recover its former position because of its elasticity, with the result that the whole envelope contracts again, and arrives at its original position in space ready to accept motion again and transmit it onwards in the same manner as before.
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Thus, by the acceptance of an atomic and gravitating Aether, we may form a physical conception of one of the greatest problems in optical phenomena, viz. the transverse vibration of light which always takes place in the wave front, and across the line of propagation. Whether this explanation is exactly correct in detail, or not, I am convinced that the true physical explanation of the problem is to be found in an atomic and gravitating Aether, as hitherto a frictionless Aether has failed even to suggest to any scientist how such a transverse vibration can take place.
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Art. 72. Reflection and Refraction.--A ray or wave of light is said to be reflected when it meets with an obstacle which opposes its free passage and turns it back. We have illustrations of this law of reflection in the case of water waves striking against a breakwater, or a sound wave striking against the wall of a room. In either case the wave is turned back, and reflection is the result. A ray or a wave of light is said to be refracted when, in passing from one medium into another, it is turned from the straight path in which it was going before it entered the refracting medium. An illustration of the refraction of light is to be found in the case of the glass lens, so often used to converge the light waves into one focus. We have up to the present dealt with only two theories of light, the Corpuscular theory and the Undulatory or Wave theory. We have seen how both harmonize with Huyghens' principle, and the question arises as to whether both can be made to harmonize with the phenomena of reflection and refraction.
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In the Corpuscular theory we have luminous particles emitted by luminous bodies. These particles we have learned are practically synonymous with our aetherial atoms.
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In the Wave theory it is impossible to conceive of a wave without conceiving of particles which transmit the wave; even Huyghens refers to particles of Aether, and so does Tyndall [136] in his Notes on Light.
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In the Electro-magnetic theory of light we have again to think of atoms, which are termed electrons by Dr. Larmor and Sir William Crookes; while Professor J. J. Thompson calls them corpuscles.
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So that in all three theories we have the same fundamental idea of atoms, either expressed or imagined, underlying all the three theories. Now what is the property of the Aether on which all reflection and refraction is based? Is it not the property of density? Fresnel assumes that reflection and refraction of light are dependent upon different degrees of density of the Aether associated with any body, and has given a mathematical formula, which decides the index of refraction, such formula being entirely dependent upon the relative density of the Aether in association with the refracting medium.
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But with a frictionless medium, it is an absolute impossibility to conceive of different degrees of density of the Aether in association with matter.
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If the Aether does possess different degrees of density which decide the refractive index of the substance, then of a certainty there must be some law to govern and decide the density, and that law can only be the Law of Gravitation.
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As Young points out in his Fourth Hypothesis, every particle of matter has an attraction for the Aether by which it is accumulated around it with greater density. Now on the basis of our conception of a gravitative Aether, every atom and molecule, and indeed every body in the universe, possess aetherial atmospheres, which possess varying degrees of density, the denser layers being nearest to the nucleus of the atom or molecule as the case may be, the elasticity of each layer or envelope being always proportionate to its density.
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When we apply the corpuscular theory to the reflection of light we find that it satisfactorily accounts for the phenomenon.
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According to Newton's corpuscular theory, each luminous particle travels in a straight line through a homogeneous medium. When, however, it comes almost into contact with a reflecting surface, which in our case we conceive to be a layer of one of the aetherial elastic envelopes surrounding the atoms or molecules of the reflecting body, then, according to Newton, the light particle is repelled, or reflected by the medium; the angle of reflection or repulsion being always equal to the angle of incidence. So that the emission theory harmonizes with the wave theory in regard to reflection.
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When, however, we come to deal with the refraction of light, the corpuscular theory apparently breaks down, and it was in relation to this phase of the phenomena of light that [137] the undulatory theory overthrew the corpuscular theory.
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According to the corpuscular theory, when a luminous particle or corpuscle is nearing the surface of a denser medium, as glass or water, it was attracted by the denser medium, with the result that the velocity of the particle in the denser medium was greater than its velocity in air. But direct experiments prove exactly the opposite, as it is found that when light passes from a rare into a denser medium, the velocity of light in the denser or more refracting medium is less than it was in the air. Here then was a test to decide the respective merits of the two theories. As the undulatory theory was able to give a satisfactory explanation of the phenomenon, the corpuscular theory was rejected, and the undulatory theory was accepted. Now the question suggests itself, as to whether it is possible to reconcile the two theories in relation to the refraction of light by our conception of an atomic and gravitative Aether. I believe it is possible. Let us look at the case for a moment. We have, according to our theory of the Aether, to conceive of all atoms and molecules, of all planets and suns and stars, being surrounded by aetherial elastic atmospheres, or envelopes, which, like the atmosphere in association with the earth, are always the densest nearest the nucleus of the atom, getting gradually less and less dense the further they recede from the central point. Further, according to our theory, with regard to the elasticity or pressure of these elastic envelopes, they exert a pressure proportionate to their density. So that the nearer the aetherial atmosphere or envelope is to the central point or nucleus of the atom, the greater will be the elasticity or pressure.
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Now what I wish to call the reader's special attention to is, that the pressure in each and every case of the aetherial elastic envelopes which surround the central nucleus, is always directed away from the central point, and here it seems to me is the solution of the difficulty which Newton failed to solve. For when a luminous corpuscle enters any medium, assuming it to do so, it would have to overcome the pressure due to the increased elasticity of the denser aetherial envelopes, and as the two motions, viz. that of the incident ray, and the pressure due to the elasticity of the elastic envelope, would be in opposition to each other, the result would be that the luminous corpuscle, if it entered the medium at all, would be retarded and not accelerated as suggested by Newton, and such a result is perfectly in harmony with experiment. So that by our theory of an atomic and gravitating Aether, it seems to me that it now becomes possible to reconcile the two theories.
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There is another difficulty that the emission theory had to contend with, and that was, how [138] was it possible for the same surface of any substance to reflect and refract a corpuscle at one and the same time? Newton overcame this difficulty by suggesting, from the results of his observations on certain coloured rings, that each particle had what he called certain phases or fits, of easy reflection or refraction, so that at certain times they would be refracted, and at other times they would be reflected.
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Boscovitch has suggested that the fits were due to the fact that each luminous corpuscle possessed polarity; which, by rotating, alternately offered their different sides to the refractive and reflecting surfaces, so that sometimes they would be reflected or repelled, and at other times attracted or refracted.
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A similar hypothesis has also been suggested by Biot. Now if such a hypothesis will satisfactorily account for the fact that the same medium will reflect or refract the luminous corpuscles, as the case may be, then in our aetherial atom we have the very conditions which would satisfy both Boscovitch and Biot's hypothesis. For one of the properties that we suggested regarding our aetherial atom was, that it possessed rotation like our own earth, and that it also possessed polarity.
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The harmonizing of the two theories, therefore, seems to rest upon the atomicity or nonatomicity of the Aether.
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It is absolutely certain that the electro-magnetic theory of light demands the recognition of some form of atomicity for the Aether. For if light be really an electro-magnetic phenomena, as has been proved by Maxwell and experimentally demonstrated by Hertz, then, in view of the fact that the atomicity of electricity is coming within the scope of direct experiment as asserted by Dr. Larmor, unless we accept atomicity of the Aether in some way, we shall be in the unphilosophical position of having the Aether of space not being composed of atoms, while the electricity associated with that Aether in some unknown way is composed of atoms. In other words, we shall have a non-atomic body composed of atoms, which conclusion is absurd. Therefore, from the electro-magnetic theory of light, we are again compelled to postulate atoms of some kind for the Aether.
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If there are electrical atoms in association with the Aether, then they must be of two kinds, positive and negative, as it is impossible to find positive electricity disassociated from negative. Therefore, from the electro-magnetic theory of light we get further evidence of the polarity of the aetherial atom, by which Newton's fits of easy reflection or refraction may be physically conceived.
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I am convinced, that with the hypothesis of an atomic and gravitative Aether as suggested by Young in his Fourth Hypothesis, all three theories of light in relation to the phenomena of reflection and refraction can be harmonized. I wish only to point out the direction in [139] which to look for the solution, and must leave it to scientists to work out the problem.
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Art. 73. The Solar Spectrum.--When a ray or beam of solar light is passed through a prism, it is broken up or decomposed into its constituent parts. This is called dispersion, and conclusively proves that the light from the sun is not a simple, but a compound colour. We have illustrations of this decomposition of pure white light in the rainbow, where the colours of the sunlight are revealed against the sky with clearness and precision. A simple experiment to prove that the solar light is a compound one may be made by boring a small hole in a shutter, and then allowing the sunlight that passes through the hole to fall upon a prism, such as the pendant of a candelabrum. When this is done, then on the opposite wall of the room will be seen, not one colour, but seven colours, ranged in the following order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet. This is termed the Visible Spectrum.
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It may be asked, What is the cause of the various colours in the spectrum? We have already seen that light is due to a wave motion of the Aether, and it can be demonstrated that the various colours of light are due to different wave lengths. Colour is to light what pitch is to sound. As has been shown in Art. 62, the pitch of a note depends upon the number of air waves which strike upon the tympanum of the ear in a given time. The more rapid the vibration, the higher the note. The more rapidly a sounding body vibrates, the shorter will be the length of each wave. If a violinist wants to produce a note of higher pitch, he presses his finger on the string, thereby shortening it, and by so doing increases the rapidity of vibration, and raises the pitch of the note. Now the colours of the spectrum are to the eye what the notes are to the ear. The aetherial waves which produce the red colour are slower in their vibrations, and are longer than those which produce the orange colour. Those which produce the orange colour are of slower vibrations, and longer than those which produce the yellow colour, and so on through all the other colours; until we get to the violet and to the
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