lS94-| VEEDER SOLAR ELECTRICAL ENERGY. 25 I 



In the case of particles not free to move there are stresses and urg- 

 ings which tend to bring about this same form of arrangement. It is 

 in virtue of the possession of such properties that a magnet lifts its 

 armature and holds it in position and not because of any bombard- 

 ment of ether pulsations. This power of attraction, like that of 

 gravitation, resides in the atoms themselves and does not depend upon 

 anything external to them. Unlike gravitation, however, electrical 

 attraction or repulsion does not even seem to act at a distance, its 

 conveyance requiring a proper medium, thus involving perfect conti- 

 nuity in a series of material atoms in touch with each other. In the 

 absence of a proper conducting medium, whether embodied in a wire 

 or in the dust-like contents of interplanetary space, there can be 

 no conveyance of electrical energy a single inch, to say nothing of 

 any such distance as from sun to earth. 



From this point of view all that we know about electricity is 

 that it is a property of atoms which after the analogy of chemical 

 affinity causes them to combine pole to pole in such manner as to 

 satisfy what may be termed their electrical valency or power of 

 entering into definite forms of adjustment in respect to each other. 

 As well might we deny the existence of the attraction of gravitation, 

 which does not appear to have any conceivable relation to ether 

 waves, as to refuse to admit the existence of other forms of attractive 

 force which may likewise be independent of ether waves and atomic 

 oscillations of every sort. If only electrical currents were concerned 

 it would be a question of motions, perhaps. The final outcome of 

 electrical action is, however, an adjustment of stresses in particular 

 directions having reference to poles and lines of force, so as to 

 produce a state of equilibrium and consequent cessation of motion. 

 Just as the armature of a magnet ceases to move and is held stationary 

 when it reaches its proper position in contact with the poles, so too 

 the atoms of which it is composed doubtless reach a definite adjust- 

 ment and consequent quiet under the influence of electrical strain. 

 The case is precisely similar to that in which a body falls to the earth 

 and remains motionless thereon. If a body in this condition can be con- 

 ceived of as being compelled to cling to the earth by the impulse of 

 ether motions, a similar explanation might become possible in connec- 

 tion with the modes of operation of electrical forces above indicated. 

 To the writer such a view appears to involve far greater difficulties than 

 those sought to be explained. There is the question as to what must 

 be the character of the motions of the ether that could accomplish 



