THE ETHER OF SPACE 295 



Faraday, whose whole life may be said to have been directed 

 toward a better understanding of these ethereous phenom- 

 ena. He is, indeed, the discoverer of the electric and 

 magnetic properties of the ether of space. 



Faraday conjectured that the same medium which is 

 concerned in the propagation of light might also be the 

 agent in electro-magnetic phenomena. He says: 



For my own part, considering the relation of a vacuum to the 

 magnetic force, and the general character of magnetic phenomena ex- 

 ternal to the magnet, I am much more inclined to the notion that in 

 the transmission of the force there is such an action, external to the 

 magnet, than that the effects are merely attraction and repulsion at a 

 distance. Such an action may be a function of the Eether; for it is 

 not unlikely that, if there be an a3ther, it should have other uses than 

 simply the conveyance of radiation. 



This conjecture has been amply strengthened by subse- 

 quent investigations. 



One more function is now being discovered ; the ether is 

 being found to constitute matter an immensely interesting 

 topic, on which there are many active workers at the present 

 time. I will make a brief quotation from Professor J. J. 

 Thomson, where he summarizes his own anticipation of 

 the conclusion which in one form or another we all see 

 looming before us, though it has not yet been completely 

 attained, and would not by all be similarly expressed: 



The whole mass of any body is just the mass of ether surrounding 

 the body which is carried along by the Faraday tubes associated with 

 the atoms of the body. In fact, all mass is mass of the ether; all 

 momentum, momentum of the ether; and all kinetic energy, kinetic 

 energy of the ether. This view, it should be said, requires the density 

 of the ether to be immensely greater than that of any known 

 substance. 



Yes, far denser so dense that matter by comparison is 

 like gossamer, or a filmy imperceptible mist, or a Milky 

 Way. Not unreal or unimportant a cobweb is not unreal, 

 nor to certain creatures is it unimportant, but it cannot be 

 said to be massive or dense ; and matter, even platinum, is 

 not dense when compared with the ether. 



