EXPLORING THE ATOM 



stitute matter than it is in the medium outside, and 

 hence that the fissures or particles of matter are 

 pressed toward one another, such pressure con- 

 stituting what is commonly known as the attraction 

 of gravitation. 



Thus it appears that the theory conceives two 

 kinds of strain in the granular medium, one produc- 

 ing fissures that constitute matter, and the other a 

 maladjustment that results in pushing the fissures 

 toward one another. The entire subject is too ab- 

 struse to be clearly grasped as to its details without 

 much study, but the general fact of a mechanical 

 interpretation of the structure of the universe and of 

 the mystery of gravitation, and, it may be added, of 

 electricity and magnetism as well, gives Professor 

 Reynolds' theory a high degree of interest and im- 

 portance. But of course it must be recalled that this 

 interpretation of the nature of the ether is as yet 

 altogether hypothetical and not at all comparable in 

 validity to the facts and theories concerning the mole- 

 cule, the atom, and the electron with which the earli- 

 er pages of the present chapter were concerned. 



