The state of things above described constitutes what is called “mobile equilibrium;” for what one current loses by meeting another in an opposite direction will be imparted to surrounding currents, and these, in their turn, will give back equal to what they have acquired, so that compensation will be made, and thus the laws of conservation of force, and of vis viva, will be satisfied.
The velocity with which the atoms move is enormous, and millions of times greater than the velocity of light.
The reader will observe that there is a vast difference between the mobile equilibrium of this ether and the equilibrium of air or gas confined in a closed vessel. The reason why particles of a gas appear to repel each other is because the ethereal undulations of heat are vibrating between them. By reducing the temperature and increasing the pressure gases may be liquified or solidified, in which states no repulsion exists between their particles.
All ponderable matter is porous; its ultimate atoms are spheres much larger than the atoms of ether, and much farther apart; the currents of ether can, therefore, pass through a ponderable body in all directions.
When a current of ether passes through a ponderable body some of the atoms of ether strike the atoms of the body and rebound; the current, after passing through the body, will, therefore, be weakened, according to the number of its atoms which have rebounded in altered directions—that is to say, according to the number of atoms of the body which have been struck by atoms of ether. The greater the mass of a body the greater will be the weakening of the currents of ether which have passed through it. A current of ether weakened by passing through a body will gradually regain its original strength by passing through space, since it will be continually reinforced by other atoms moving in the same direction as itself.
A single ponderable atom in the midst of currents of ether will be in equilibrium under their action, because it will be struck equally in all directions.
But the atoms of a ponderable body will be put into vibratory motion by the passage through it of currents of ether; these internal motions may enable us to account for light, heat, magnetism, &c.
When two ponderable bodies exist in space, and currents of ether pass through them, the two bodies will be impelled towards each other, because the currents of ether that are between them and tend to keep them apart are weakened by having passed through the bodies, and are, therefore, weaker than the currents which impel them towards each other. This explains what has been called the “attractive force of gravity.”
It will be observed that since currents of ether pass through the bodies in all directions, the weakened currents between the bodies will be included within a sort of conical space. The law of attraction according to the inverse square of the distance is thus accounted for.
Since the weight of a body is the same, no matter how it is turned about, it follows that the ultimate atoms of all ponderable matter must be spherical. It follows also from the hypothesis that all the spherical atoms of ponderable matter are equal, and that there is, chemically speaking, but one simple substance—the apparent variety depending upon the mode of aggregation of the atoms into molecules.