THE RECOGNITION OF THE FOURTH DIMENSION. 201 
the extremity of the negative z axis, and since we have not 
interfered with its motion it goes in the direction of posi¬ 
tion w. Hence we have y to x and w to z, which is the same 
as x to y and z to w. Thus both components are reversed, and 
there is the A motion over again. The B kind is the semi¬ 
negative, with only one component reversed. 
Hence a system of molecules with the A motion would 
not destroy it in one another, and would impart it to a body 
in contact with them. Thus A and B motions possess the 
first requisite which must be demanded in any mode of mo¬ 
tion representative of electricity. 
Let us trace out the consequences of defining positive 
electricity as an A motion and negative electricity as a B 
motion. The combination of positive and negative elec¬ 
tricity produces a current. Imagine a vortex in the ether 
of the A kind and unite with this one of the B kind. An 
A motion and a B motion produce rotation round a plane, 
which is in the ether a vortex round an axial surface. It 
is a vortex of the kind we represent as a part of a sphere 
turning inside out. Now, such a vortex must have its rim 
on a boundary of the ether—on a body in the ether. 
Let us suppose that a conductor is a body which has the 
property of serving as the terminal abutment of such a vor¬ 
tex. Then the conception we must form of a closed current 
is of a vortex sheet having its edge along the circuit of the 
conducting wire. The whole wire will then be like the cen¬ 
ters on which a spindle turns in three-dimensional space, and 
any interruption of the continuity of the wire will produce 
a tension in place of a continuous revolution. 
As the direction of the rotation of the vortex is from a 
three-space direction into the fourth dimension and back 
again, there will be no direction of flow to the current; but 
it will have two sides, according to whether z goes to w or z 
goes to negative w. 
We can draw any line from one part of the circuit to an¬ 
other; then the ether along that line is rotating round its 
points. 
