SPECULATIONS ON THE NATURE OF MATTER. 795 



be excessively small, the velocity of the radiant particles being equal 

 at least to that of the transmission of light.* 



It is clear that, by the use of the term " free path " by the invent- 

 ors of this form of the ether, its particle had already been tacitly 

 endowed with the ocult properties of inertia and resilience. Primor- 

 dial motion was also attributed an occult factor, which, with the other 

 two, constitutes and conserves energy. 



Such an ether serves to explain the phenomena of light, and the 

 other radiant modes of energy, better than any other yet proposed. 

 It, therefore, measurably serves its purpose. Prior to its invention, 

 we had only first, Newton's hypothesis of corpuscular emission, in- 

 stantaneously propagated with explosive violence at an enormous but 

 still uniform velocity, in all possible directions, in radial lines, which 

 still were able to fill space at all points to unlimited distances infinite 

 and impossible results from a trivial cause ; secondly, we had Huy- 

 gens's scarcely more credible hypothesis of undulations, propagated, 

 with the same instantaneous and uniform velocity in all directions, 

 from a luminous point in a pervading statical solid or fluid medium 

 another infinite effect from a trivial cause. But by the hypothesis of 

 its own independent linear motion, ever conserved the parasitic en- 

 ergy alone being transferable, and by a mechanism different from the 

 translatory motion many difficulties are got over. The conserva- 

 tion of the linear motion is due to the law of radiant matter above 

 stated, and also, I conceive, to another consideration, which tends to 

 prevent the bombardment of the molecules, and consequent rise of 

 temperature and distribution of energy, so fatal to the gravitation 

 theory. It is that the only obstructive portion of the so-called ma- 

 terial atom (which I have named the elementary molecule) lies in the 

 extreme boundary ; and even of this it constitutes only such fraction 

 as the ratio which the dimension of the component particle bears to 

 the semi-circumference of the atom, which is an infinitesimal ratio. 

 The component, having a dimension and velocity of an order compar- 

 able with that of the ethereal particles themselves, can protect itself 

 from collisions by a readjustment, without rise of temperature, on the 

 same terms as obtain with ethereal collisions. Collisions, however, 

 would be excessively rare as much so as those of the particles among 

 themselves and an occasional collision could not destroy the atom, 

 owing to the peculiar bond of the component with its fellow ; but its 

 motion would be merely compounded into a gyration. The real field 



* The velocity would really be at least one third greater. It has been shown, by a cal- 

 culation of Maxwell's ("London, Edinburgh, and Dublin Philosophical Magazine," 1877, 

 p. 453), that, in a gas constituted as assumed, the velocity of the wave-motion would be 

 to the velocity of the particle in the ratio of the V 5 to 3 ; that is, about -745+ ; which 

 would give a velocity for the ethereal particle of nearly 250,000 miles per second. It is 

 highly probable, moreover, that some forms of electrical radiant energy surpass light in 

 velocity of transmission. 



