364 Mr. H. N. Allen on Energy Movements in the 



aether. The gravitational cells are negative energy-cells. 

 This expansion of the negative energy-cells implies a kind of 

 contraction of the energy of the gravitational aether. In the 

 case of electricity the final state is reached when the energy- 

 density is everywhere zero, all the energy having passed into 

 the particles ; in the case of gravitation when the density is 

 uniform over a series of concentric shells, being a maximum 

 at an infinite distance from ponderable matter. 



8. Fig. 2 shows the path of the negative energy-cells, when 

 two equal gravitational particles come together from an infinite 

 distance apart. It can be seen that the cells retreat from the 

 particles as these approach one another. There will be a 

 greater number of negative cells in the aether when the par- 

 ticles are in contact than when they are at a distance. This 

 is merely another way of saying that (positive) energy has 

 passed from the aether into the particles. 



The instantaneous position of the lines of energy-flow, for a 

 given position of the moving gravitational particles, is some- 

 thing like fig. -2, the motion being away from the median 

 plane and towards the line joining the two particles. The 

 flow of energy is on the whole in the direction opposite to 

 the motion of the particle. The potential energy absorbed 

 by two gravitational particles, when they fall together, comes 

 from the space between them. 



The increase in the number of negative energy- cells, when 

 two gravitating masses approach, is equal to twice the gain 

 in kinetic, or loss in potential energy. The proof is the same 

 as in the case of static electricity, due regard being paid to 

 the signs of the quantities involved. 



Thus the theory may be advanced that each of these nega- 

 tive energy-cells contains half a unit less of energy than the 

 same volume of aether in which no such cells exist. An 

 increase in number of these cells corresponds to a flow of 

 energy from the gravitational aether into matter, where it is 

 converted into kinetic energy. 



Some difficulty may arise in special cases on account of 

 the fact that in the case of gravitation the attracting mass 

 has a volume distribution, instead of being confined to a 

 surface like static electricity on a conductor. Each unit 

 mass sends out a tube of polarization, whether it is on the 

 surface or not, and a considerable proportion of the energy- 

 cells exist inside the surface. 



In the case of a single homogeneous sphere, at a distance 

 from all other bodies, one sixth of the negative energy-cells 

 are within the surface. 



It is clear, then, that in general the energy is not removed 



