4 Introduction 



phenomenon, so that the whole science of Optics became a branch of 

 Electromagnetism. 



A still more modern view attributes all material phenomena to the action 

 of forces which are in their nature identical with those of electricity and mag- 

 netism. Indeed, modern physics tends to regard the universe as a continuous 

 ocean of ether, in which material bodies are represented merely as peculiarities 

 in the ether-formation. The study of the forces in this ether must therefore 

 embrace the dynamics of the whole universe. The study of these forces is 

 best approached through the study of the forces of electrostatics and magneto- 

 statics, but does not end until all material phenomena have been discussed 

 from the point of view of ether forces. In one sense, then, it may be 

 said that the science of Electromagnetism deals with the whole material 

 universe. 



