240 



SCIENCE. 



they possess the same absolute amount of energy. 

 Velocity in this case will be equal to amplitude a l>, 

 the space point c passes over during one vibration. 

 If m and m' be two atoms of different masses having 

 equal energy of vibration, then, 



E = 



and 



that is, the square of their velocities is inversely as 

 their masses, so that wave length in the ether will vary J 

 as the mass of the atom. As such rays in ether vary 

 only in amplitude and wave length, not in form nor in 

 the medium, it is time to stop speaking of some of 

 them as heat rays, some of them as light rays, and still 

 others as actinic rays. These names characterize 

 effects, not the rays themselves ; what any one will do 

 depends solely upon what kind of matter it falls upon. 

 What we call light itself is purely a physiological phe- 

 nomenon and does not exist independent of eyes, and 

 it is hence improper to speak of the velocity of light. 

 however convenient the expression may be. It is 

 what produces light or heat or photographic effects 

 that has velocity and this has the more appropriate 

 name of radiant energy. 



For a similar reason it is manifestly improper to 

 speak of the temperature of space. Absolute space 

 can have no temperature, for temperature is a function 

 of matter. The temperature that a mass of matter 

 would have in space must depend first upon its own 

 constitution, and second, upon the number and wave 

 lengths of the rays of radiant energy that fall upon it, 

 and these would not necessarily be alike in any two 

 points in space. Let V and V be two atoms at any 

 distance apart, then if any ray from V falls upon V', 

 the latter will be made to vibrate provided its possible 

 rate of vibration coincides with V, in which case it is 

 a simple example of sympathetic vibration, the ampli- 

 tude only being less than that of V. If its possible 

 rate is not the same then it will not be vibrated by the 

 ray ; in other words it will not be heated by it and 

 consequently it will have no temperature. 



IV. Again, consider other physical conditions in and 

 about a vibrating body. Bring any light body that is free 

 to move in proximity to a vibrating tuning fork and such 

 body will be apparently attracted by the prong and will 

 stick to it while the vibrations continue. The average 

 density of the air near the fork is less when it vibrates 

 than when it is still, and consequently any object near 

 it will be more pressed by the air on the opposite side 

 than on the side adjacent to the prong. Precisely 

 similar conditions are present with a vibrating atom. 

 Let A (Fig. 2), be such an atom as before vibrating 

 in its slowest period, a b will he the amplitude of 

 vibration, then will there he a less density in the ether 

 at each of the four extremes of the major and minor 



axes of the ellipses, and consequently a pressure at the 

 four points in the direction of the arrows. The space 

 within which the density is appreciably less may be 

 called the field of the atom and if another atom B be 

 wholly or in part within that field it will be subject 

 to pressure towards A. If atom B vibrates synchron- 

 ously with A there will be no more than a brief tem- 

 porary disturbance when the two will adhere together 

 by pressure from without and will then constitute what 

 is called a molecule. If, however, the vibratory period 

 of B is not commensurate with A : s then after impact 

 the two must separate, either to renew contact and 

 recession or to bound away quite out of each other's 

 field. The same may happen to two similar atoms 

 when the amptitude of vibration becomes very great, 

 they may bound quite out of each other's field, only 

 renewing contact but not cohesion. This is called 

 dissociation. This tendency to unite exhibited by 

 atoms and explained as due to purely mechanical con- 

 ditions was formerly called chemical affinity, but is 

 now called chcniism. The selective agency observed 

 being due to relative rates of vibration, the possibility 

 of uniting and the strength of the compact depending 

 upon the harmonic relations involved. The motion 

 set up in the ether at the parts of maximum displace- 

 ment which results in chemism is different from the 

 undulatory and may be distinguished from it as pul- 

 satory. 



If an atom spins upon an axis at right angles to its 

 plane then any point c, (Fig. i) in the circumference will 

 be displaced the diameter of the atom every half rota- 

 tion, and this displacement must set up in the ether a 

 disturbance as great as though the amplitude of vibra- 

 tion had been as great as the diameter of the atom, 

 but the motion of the point c being continuous and 

 uniform instead of vibratory, the motion in the ether 

 must be helical, the diameter of the helix at the atom 

 being just equal to the diameter of the atom, but ex- 

 panding outwards as a cone anfi is sometimes treated 

 as a line or lube of force in treatises on electricity and 

 magnetism. This motion in the tube will be right 

 handed or left handed, depending upon which side of 

 the atom the motion is traced from. 



Now all the phenomena of magnetism tend to show 

 that wherever it is present there matter is rotating 

 in a plane at right angles to the direction of the 

 magnetic axis, the magnetism being a form of energy 

 in ether, being related to rotating atoms as undula- 

 tions in ether are to vibrating atoms. 



Lastly, there are many good reasons for the belief 

 thai matter itself consists of vortex rings of ether in 

 the ether, and that they also eml)od\ a certain form of 

 energy, which simply on account of its form is persis- 

 tent, that is. unlike other forms of energy it is not ex- 



