UNDER THE APPLE-TREES 
experiment of man has as yet been able to detect 
it or prove its existence. It is a metaphysical 
necessity. We are compelled to assume its exist- 
ence to account for such phenomena as light, elec- 
tricity, and gravity. We can produce a vacuum as 
regards the air, but not as regards the ether. The 
ether has no mechanical reality. It is the negation 
of all mechanics, of all matter. The physicists are 
driven to the necessity of describing matter as a 
hole in the ether. But how can there be a hole in 
that which is the negation of matter? It is like 
trying to think of a hole within a hole, or a nest of 
holes, like a nest of boxes. But our scientific phi- 
losophers are not disturbed by such things. Neces- 
sity in science, as in war, knows no law, and our need 
for the ether is so great that we must have it even 
if it negatives all the rest of our knowledge. It is, 
so to speak, the connective tissue of the cosmos, it 
makes the cosmos one and inseparable. It is the 
unchangeable, the all-present, the everlasting. It 
satisfies the needs of the mind for an all-embracing 
reality, for a primal stuff out of which all things 
arose, for an immaterial reality which is the par- 
ent and master of matter. It is the sea of energy 
in which the cosmos floats. It affords the key to 
the well-authenticated cases of mind-reading, telep- 
athy, and all genuine occult phenomena. It gives 
us a glimpse behind the veil of things; it adds a 
new chapter of wonders to this universe of wonders 
290 
