Models illustrating some Properties of the Aither. 489 
slipping more or less. A short description of how electrostatic, 
electrokinetic, and luminiferous phenomena are illustrated by 
such a one-dimensional model will be clearer than the corre- 
sponding description of the tridimensional model, the structure 
of which is the special purpose of this paper. 
As an illustration of an electrostatic phenomenon, consider 
two conducting regions separated by a nonconducting region 
everywhere except along one line where the bands are removed. 
If anywhere in this line a rotation in opposite directions be com- 
municated to the wheels that abut on it, then all the wheels in 
the nonconducting region will be turned more or less. If 
anywhere two neighbouring wheels turn equally, there is no 
straining of the band connecting them; but if one turn more © 
than the other, the connecting band is strained and one side 
becomes tight and the other loose. Now it will be found in 
the case considered that all the bands are strained, and that 
all the tight sides are turned towards one conductor and all 
the loose sides towards the other. This represents the charging 
of the two conductors in opposite ways. The strain .of the 
bands in any element of the medium represents the polarization 
of the element, and the line joining the tight and loose sides 
is the direction of polarization or of electric displacement. 
The energy of the system is in the form of this straining of the 
bands, which produces stresses tending to restore the unstrained 
condition. With a given strain at their respective surfaces, 
there would be more elements involved and more energy in 
the medium when the conductors are far apart than when near, 
showing that if we could represent in any way the fact that 
conductors can move through the ether there would be forces 
tending to produce this motion, or, in other words, there would 
be attraction between these oppositely electrified bodies. As, 
however, the model does not illustrate the connection between 
matter and ether, neither this nor magnetic attractions are 
represented, nor have electromotive forces such as exist in 
cells been represented. If the forces that have been supposed 
to turn the wheels along the conducting line connecting the 
two conducting regions cease to act, the state of strain will 
disappear, and what represents an electric discharge along this 
line will take place. Allalong this line, during the discharge, 
the wheels at opposite sides will be rotating in opposite direc- 
tions ; so that this is what represents an electric current at 
any point. It is the same as an electric displacement; and in 
a nonconductor such opposite rotation is resisted by the stresses 
in the band, but in a conductor it may take place to any extent. 
During the discharge the whole of the nonconducting region 
is full of rotating wheels, and their axes of rotation are at 
