Of the Ether, Prof. Oliver Lodge has said, "We have to try and realize the idea of a perfectly continuous, subtle, incompressible substance, pervading all Space, and penetrating between the molecules of ordinary Matter, which are imbedded in it, and connected to one another by its means. And we must regard it as the one universal medium by which all actions between bodies are carried on. This, then, is its function—to act as the transmitter of motion and energy."
To give you an idea of the wonderful thing that Science is compelled to think of the Ether as being, by reason of the qualities it is compelled to ascribe to it—although it confesses itself unable to "imagine" the nature of the "Thing" which it has created in bits by the adding and bestowing of qualities which were made necessary by the logical requirements of the case—let us take a hurried view of the Thing as the several departments of Science say it must be thought of.
To meet the requirements of the case, Science says that The Universal Ether must be Substance infinitely more rare and evanescent than the finest gas or vapor known to Science, even in its rarest condition. It must convey Heat in the manner of an infinitely Solid body—and yet it must not be a Solid. It must be transparent and invisible. It must be Frictionless, and yet Incompressible. It cannot be a Fluid. It cannot have Attraction for Substance, such as all Substance has. Nor can it have Weight—that is, it is not subject to Gravitation. It is beyond the reach of any known scientific instrument, even of the greatest power, and it refuses to register itself in any way, either to senses or instruments.
It cannot be known "of itself," but may only be recognized as existent by the "things" for which it acts as a medium or transmitting agent. It must convey Energy and Motion, yet it must not take up any part of either from the Matter in its midst. It must not absorb any of the Heat, Light or Electricity. It must fill up the spaces between the worlds, as well as the most minute space between the Molecules, Atoms and Corpuscles, or any other minute particle of Substance, either known by name to Science now or which may be discovered or imagined later as a necessity of some conception regarding the nature of Substance. In short, The Universal Ether, in order to do the things attributed to it, must be more solid than Solids; more Vapor-like and Gas-like than Vapor or Gas; more fluid than Fluids; infinitely less rigid than steel, and yet infinitely stronger than the strongest steel. It must be a substance having the qualities of a vacuum. It must be continuous and not composed of Particles, Atoms or Molecules. It must be an "everything" in some respects, and yet a "nothing" in others. It must not be Substance, and yet it must carry Substance within its ocean of dimensions, and, besides, interpenetrate the most minute space between the particles of Substance. It must not be Energy or Force, and yet Science has been considering Energy and Force as but "interruptions of rest" or "agitations" within, and of, itself.
So you see that this mysterious, wonderful Universal Ether—in order to "be" at all—must be a "Something" possessing certain qualities or properties of Substance—many of the properties of qualities being exactly contradictory and opposed to each other—and yet it cannot be Substance as we know it. It is a Paradoxical thing. It could only belong to another and an entirely different order of existence from that of Substance as we know it. It must possess characteristics and properties of an order as yet unknown to us by name—for which the material world contains no analogy—for which Substance has no analogues. It must be a far more complex thing than is even the most complex thing we call Matter, or that which we call Force or Energy. And yet, it has been claimed that it would explain both—yes, contain within itself the possibility of both.
And yet, in face of what has just been said, the writer must confess, humbly and with a full realization of the enormity of the offence, that he supposes advancing a theory, a little further on in this book that will attempt to identify this Something—this Universal Ether—with a Something else that we know, although not through the senses or by means of instruments. Bear with him kindly, he begs of you, while he proceeds gradually along the path that leads to the theory.
Scientists have compared Substance moving through the Ether as a coarse seive moving through water, the latter making room for the passage of the seive, and then closing up behind it. If this be amended by the idea that the moving seive, while allowing the water to pass through it freely, still carries along with it a thin film of water which clings to the wires of the seive by adhesion—if there be admitted this "clinging film" as well as the body of the water through which the seive moves—then the illustration answers quite well as a crude illustration of Substance and "The Ether." This fact is important in view of the theory that will be advanced, further on in this book. Prof. Lodge, in his interesting work, "Modern Views of Electricity," mentions a number of experiments tending to prove the above mentioned fact, which is not so generally known as other facts relating to the Ether.
Until the discovery of Radiant Matter (bringing with it the new theories of the Corpuscle or Electron, etc.), brushed aside into the dust heap many generally accepted scientific theories regarding the nature of Substance, the favorite and most popular theory was what was known as the "Vortex-ring" theory of the Atom. This theory held that the atoms of Substance were but vortex-rings of the Ether, having had motion communicated to them in some way, and which afterwards acquired other motions, and which finally become apparent to our senses as Substance. In other words, the Atom was supposed to be a vortex-ring of Ether, acted upon by Force, in some unknown way, the character, nature and properties of the Atom being determined by the shape and size of the vortex-ring; the rate of motion; etc., etc.
The new discoveries of Science, however, have set aside (at least temporarily) this "vortex-ring" theory, and at present Science seems to find its "latest thing in Substance," in the theory that Substance—at the last—seems to be the Corpuscle or Electron. In other words, after many years of fancied security in a settled theory regarding the nature of Substance, Science once more finds itself compelled to take up the search for the origin of things. But the theory of the Ether remains—and is likely to—although the names applied to it will change. By some it is still believed that in the Ether, a little further removed, rests the origin of Substance and that the Corpuscle may be the "vortex-ring" product, instead of the Atom.
It will be noticed that Science has made no serious attempt to connect the phenomenon of Gravitation or Attraction with the Ether. Gravitation stands alone—an "outsider" among the Forces, responding to none of their laws—needing no time in which to travel—needing no medium like the Ether in which to transmit "waves"—fearing no obstacle or interfering body, but passing right through the same—different, different, different. And we shall see why this difference, when we reach the point where our theory brings us to the point where we must substitute "something else" for that Great Paradoxical General Solvent of Modern Science—the Ether of Aristotle. We shall reach the point after a brief consideration of Motion, Force and Energy.
CHAPTER VIII
THE FORCES OF NATURE