FORCE 37 



that all the science and ingenuity of man have failed 

 to reveal its existence as matter ! And yet scientists 

 feel sure that ether reaches from the earth to the 

 most distant star from which light has ever reached 

 us. Marvelous indeed is the fact that there are visi- 

 ble stars so distant from us that it requires thousands 

 of years for their light, traveling at the rate of 186,000 

 miles per second, to reach the earth ! And yet the 

 waves of light are flashed across infinite space, and 

 travel on and on for ages without being lost, through 

 an ether that is being perpetually agitated in every 

 conceivable direction and manner by the ceaseless 

 vibrations of countless worlds. 



We look upon the telegraph and telephone as being 

 wonderful means of communication — which they truly 

 are — but light and heat flow with ceaseless activity 

 from world to world with no visible means of transit 

 through infinite space. The existence of life on the 

 earth is rendered possible by the fact that the sun's 

 light and heat are poured through ninety-two millions 

 of miles of space that must be, so far as ordinary 

 matter is concerned, an almost absolute vacuum. 



It may be asked, why assume the existence of a uni- 

 versal medium? In answer to this it may be said that, 

 from the transmission of sound through air and other 

 media, and the transmission of heat and electricity 

 through conductors, it might seem that a medium is 

 necessary in order to convey energy through space. 

 And yet it may be said that the qualities which are 

 assigned to ether are so different from those of ordi- 

 nary matter that analogy fails. But still the human 

 mind is left helpless in the presence of the question 

 as to how energy can pass through an absolute 

 vacuum. It therefore assumes the existence of a 

 medium. 



In addition to this, the various facts connected with 



