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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.

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.

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 electro-magnetic properties of this self-same Aether.

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?

It has already been pointed out in Art. 29 that Aether is matter. Such an assumption is strictly in accordance with the Rules of Philosophy, quoted in Chap. I.

Not only is this hypothesis a simple one, but it is also in accord with all our experience and observation.

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.

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.

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 Aether is a medium, with qualities which lie altogether outside the range of our experience and observation.

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 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.”

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.”

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.”

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.

In addition to this, light is thrown upon such problems as are referred to by Lord Kelvin (Phil. Mag., July 1902) in his paper on “Clouds on the Undulatory Theory of Light,” and further light is given to some theories of Electricity advanced by such men as Faraday, Clerk Maxwell, and Professor Thompson. I venture to think, therefore, that the hypothesis advanced, and the conception put forward that Aether is matter, is philosophically correct, and is warranted by the results that arise out of such a hypothesis.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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 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.

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).

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.

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 all the activities, energies, and motions of all Matter. Thus the Aether is both universal and infinite in its extent.

Clerk Maxwell, in his paper on “Action at a Distance” (Collected Works, by Niven), with 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.

Art. 44. Aether is Atomic.--If there is one fundamental truth which is applicable to all matter, it is, that all matter is atomic.

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.”

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 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 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?

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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, 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).

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 Aether in a state of rotation.

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.

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 the part which the aetherial atom plays in those phenomena, but these objections I hope to meet and answer as they arise.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.