FORGE 33 



and that by concussion they communicate their 

 energy to the neighboring atoms. The rate of trans- 

 mission of heat in this way would be, at most, a few 

 feet per hour. But radiant energy, such as the light 

 and heat of the sun, flash through space at the rate 

 of 186,000 miles per second. Electricity travels 

 through a conducting wire thousands of miles in a 

 second, and it is even claimed that it sometimes 

 travels with the velocity of light. As to the velocity 

 of gravitation and other forms of attractive energy, 

 we are entirely ignorant. 



We now inquire, Can energy manifest itself through 

 an absolute vacuum? 



Our knowledge of energy is that it is connected 

 with matter, and manifests itself in and through mat- 

 ter, and not independently of it. 



Shall we, therefore, assume that all space is full of 

 matter, and that the energy of sun and stars is con- 

 veyed through infinite space by means of some kind of 

 universal medium? 



The theory now accepted by all physicists is that 

 there is a medium, ether, not composed of ordinary 

 matter, which fills all space except that occupied by 

 the atoms of ordinary kinds of matter. It permeates 

 all gases and liquids and solids, occupying the spaces 

 between their molecules. 



The belief in the existence of such a medium has 

 been forced upon physicists for reasons so weighty 

 that all have been led to accept it. 



First, it is impossible to conceive the action of 

 energy through an absolute vacuum. Newton felt the 

 difficulty of trying to explain the action of gravity 

 through a vacuum, and wrote as follows on the sub- 

 ject: 



"That gravity should be innate, inherent, and 

 essential to matter, so that one body may act on 



3 



