Sir Oliver Lodge 135 



potential energy exists in ether. It may vibrate and it may 

 rotate, but as regards locomotion it is stationary . . . abso- 

 lutely stationary, so to speak ; our standard of rest. 



Now comes the question, how is it possible for matter to be 

 composed of ether ? How is it possible for a solid to be made 

 out of a fluid? A solid possesses the properties of rigidity, 

 impenetrability, elasticity, and such like; how can these be 

 imitated by a perfect fluid such as the ether must be ? 



The answer is they can be imitated by a fluid in motion. 



Sir Oliver goes on to give examples : 



A wheel of spokes, transparent or permeable when stationary, 

 becomes opaque when revolving, so that a ball thrown against 

 it does not go through, but rebounds. ... A silk cord hanging 

 from a pulley becomes rigid and viscous when put into rapid 

 motion ; and pulses or waves which may be generated on the 

 cord travel along it with a speed equal to its own velocity, so 

 that they appear to stand still. ... A flexible chain, set 

 spinning, can stand up on end while the motion continues. 



A jet of water at sufficient speed can be struck with a hammer 

 and resists being cut with a sword. A spinning disc of paper 

 becomes elastic like flexible metal and can act like a circular 

 saw. ... In naval construction steel plates are cut by a 

 rapidly revolving disc of soft iron. 



We would like to quote further from Sir Oliver's 

 explanation of the nature of ether, but space does not 

 permit, and in any case the reader can turn to the book 

 from which we have given these extracts. We think at 

 any rate that he comes nearer than any other writer to 

 elucidating a subject which perhaps no human brain can 

 completely grasp. 



Now it may be interesting to give some short account 

 of the career of this man of many interests and many 

 talents. He was born at Penkhull, near Stoke-upon-Trent, 

 in the year 1851. In 1928, at the age of seventy-seven, 

 he was presented with the freedom of the city of Stoke, 

 and in his speech on that occasion gave some reminiscences 



