56 IRature's /UMraclee* 



traction of cohesion. What this ether is, has 

 been the subject of much speculation among 

 philosophers, without, however, arriving at 

 any definite conclusion, further than that it is 

 a substance possessing almost infinite elas- 

 ticity, and whose ultimate particles, if par- 

 ticles there be, are so small that no sensible 

 substance can be made sufficiently dense to re- 

 sist it or confine it. It is easy to see that a 

 substance possessing such qualities cannot be 

 weighed or in any way made appreciable to 

 our senses. But from the fact that radiant 

 energy can be transmitted through it, with 

 vibrations amounting to billions per second, 

 we know that it must be a substance with 

 elastic qualities that approach the infinite. 

 Assuming that the ether is a substance, the 

 question arises how is it related to other forms 

 of substance? This is a question more easily 

 asked than answered. The longer one dwells 

 upon the subject, however, the more one is 

 impressed with the thought that after all the 

 ether may be the one element out of which all 

 other elements come. 



Chemistry tells us that there are between 

 sixty and seventy ultimate elements. This is 

 true at least as a basis for chemical science. 

 Chemical analysis has never been able to make 

 gold anything but gold, or oxygen anything 

 but oxygen, and so on through the whole cata- 

 logue of elements. It may be, however, that 



