402 Prof. De Volson Wood on 



passed, as well as been warmed by the heat developed at its 

 surface, from which it may be inferred that it had been intensely 

 cold. Direct investigations, given above, indicate that this 

 temperature is less than 200° F. above absolute zero ; and we 

 cannot assert that it is not less than 100° F. above, or even 

 much less. 



But, however low be the temperature of the aether, it can- 

 not be absolutely cold, or, in other words, it must have a tem- 

 perature above absolute zero, for otherwise it would be desti- 

 tute of elasticity, and hence incapable of transmitting a wave. 

 This is shown by eliminating V between equations (2) and (6), 

 giving 



"=m'" (21) 



in which if r=0, e will be zero, all the other factors being 

 finite, and if e = 0, then V = in (2). Indeed, this principle 

 is so well recognized in physics, that a proof in this place 

 seems superfluous. Being unable, in the present state of our 

 knowledge, to do more than assign the probable superior limit 

 of the temperature, we will, for the purposes of this analysis, 

 assume t=20° F., absolute, being confident that the actual 

 value is between ^ of and 10 times this value. This value in 

 equation (20) gives 



c = 46 x 10 11 = 4,600,000,000,000 ... (22) 



for the specific heat of the aether, that of water being unity. 

 This number so vastly — we might say infinitely — exceeds that 

 for any known gas, as to justify one, at first thought, in looking 

 with suspicion upon the applicability of the above analysis to 

 this medium. Assumptions in regard to the absolute tempe- 

 rature will scarcely improve the appearance of this number. 

 If it bo assumed that the absolute temperature be only one 

 degree, the number in equation (22) would be only twenty 

 times as large ; and if the absolute temperature be assumed at 

 1,000,000° F., the resulting specific heat would still be more 

 than a million times as large as for hydrogen. A few consi- 

 derations of other properties of the aether may aid one in being 

 reconciled to this paradoxical result. Is the result any more 

 incredible than the fact, everywhere admitted, that every par- 

 ticle of the icther, in transmitting a wave of light, continually 



* Wo note that this equation shows that the specific heat for different 

 gases under the same tension, c, and temperature, r, varies inversely as 

 the density ; and lor the same temperature and density the specific heats 

 c will be directly as the tension e. The more perfect gases, as hydrogen, 

 oxygen, and air, conform nearly to this law. 



