240 
SCIENCE 
they possess the same absolute amount of energy. 
Velocity in this case will be equal to amplitude a b, 
the space point c passes over during one vibration. 
If m and in' be two atoms of different masses having 
equal energy of vibration, then, 
£ m z' 2 m 1 v " 2 m v ' 2 
2 2 m' v 
that is, the square of their velocities is inversely as 
their masses, so that wave length in the ether will vary 
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 be the amplitude of 
vibration, then will there be 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 chemism. 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. 1) 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 and is sometimes treated 
as a line or tube 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 
that matter itself consists of vortex rings of ether in 
the ether, and that they also embody 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- 
