574 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



to capitalize the future, will be added the new feature of utilitarianism 

 of annihilating the earth in order to improve it as a place of habitation. 



Chemical Theory of the Ether 

 Eeturning to the ether, we find ourselves in better position to discuss 

 its probable nature, and the first theory to be examined, while perhaps 

 the least satisfactory, merits respectful consideration as coming from 

 such an authority as the late Professor Mendeleef, who gave its full de- 

 velopment to the periodic system of Newlands, with its strong argu- 

 ment for a common origin of all the chemical elements. Mendeleef's 

 theory is known as the chemical theory of the ether. He suggests that 

 space is filled with chemically inert gases such as argon, krypton, neon 

 and xenon; thus, no chemical reactions would be possible in space, 

 although it is filled with what is actually matter. This is a return to 

 the Cartesian theory of matter filling all space, and implies an atomic 

 structure of the ether. From a purely structural point of view, Mende- 

 leef's theory is not incompatible with the theory of an ether entirely 

 made up of corpuscles, but on account of the larger size of atoms it 

 would be more definitely granular, and therefore less continuous. 

 Cauchy has attempted to calculate the probable dimensions of ether 

 particles and claimed one ten-thousandth of a wave-length as a result. 

 This is not an encouraging figure for the chemical theory, as it is very 

 much smaller than any of the atoms known to us, and it is worth while 

 on that account to examine some of the physical conditions of the 

 medium in space. 



This medium is, according to the figures of reliable investigators, 

 under considerable pressure, and Professor Poynting tells us that inter- 

 stellar space is at a temperature of about 10° abs., or several degrees 

 warmer than the lowest which Sir James Dewar has been able to obtain 

 by artificial means. This would be, of course, an average temperature, 

 because variations must exist in different parts of space. The high 

 pressure combined with low temperature is not in itself suggestive of 

 the presence of known gases. 



There is no indication that a fall of temperature lessens chemical 

 activity — in certain cases it has been found to increase it — nor that it 

 in any way accelerates the disintegration of atoms, and there is no 

 reason, therefore, to believe that gaseous activity would be reduced in 

 space by the absolute, or almost absolute, withdrawal of heat. This 

 statement may appear to contradict a previous statement that heat was 

 the result of molecular agitation, but it does not, for gaseous activity, 

 which causes expansion, is an intrinsic activity entirely independent 

 of, though influenced in degree by, the superadded activity imparted 

 to masses or aggregates of gaseous atoms or molecules by heat waves 

 passing through them. Purthermore, no extrapolation of results actu- 



