UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 



experiment of man has as yet been able to detect 

 it or prove its existence. It is a metaphysical 

 necessity. We are compelled to assume its exist- 

 ence to account for such phenomena as light, elec- 

 tricity, and gravity. We can produce a vacuum as 

 regards the air, but not as regards the ether. The 

 ether has no mechanical reality. It is the negation 

 of all mechanics, of all matter. The physicists are 

 driven to the necessity of describing matter as a 

 hole in the ether. But how can there be a hole in 

 that which is the negation of matter? It is like 

 trying to think of a hole within a hole, or a nest of 

 holes, like a nest of boxes. But our scientific phi- 

 losophers are not disturbed by such things. Neces>- 

 sity in science, as in war, knows no law, and our need 

 for the ether is so great that we must have it even 

 if it negatives all the rest of our knowledge. It is, 

 so to speak, the connective tissue of the cosmos, it 

 makes the cosmos one and inseparable. It is the 

 unchangeable, the all-present, the everlasting. It 

 satisfies the needs of the mind for an all-embracing 

 reality, for a primal stuff out of which all things 

 arose, for an immaterial reality which is the par- 

 ent and master of matter. It is the sea of energy 

 in which the cosmos floats. It affords the key to 

 the well-authenticated cases of mind-reading, telep- 

 athy, and all genuine occult phenomena. It gives 

 us a glimpse behind the veil of things; it adds a 

 new chapter of wonders to this universe of wonders 



290 



