Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Art. 87. The Earth a Magnet.--If there is any fact in relation to a planet that holds good, it is that the earth, with which planet we are more intimately associated than any other, is a magnet.

This truth was clearly explained by Dr. Gilbert about the year 1600 in his work on “De Magnete.” Not only has the earth geographical North and South poles, but it has also magnetic North and South poles, and indeed has all the phenomena incidental to a magnet, such as magnetic dip and magnetic lines of force, as we shall see later on.

We know, however, that the earth is simply one of a system of planets, which revolves with all the others of that system round its central body the sun; and the question arises, whether the earth is the only one out of all the planets that is actually a magnet. Suppose it is affirmed that the earth is the only planet which is a magnet. On what basis would such a statement be made? The only ground for making such a statement that I can see is, that we have never lived on Mars or Jupiter or Saturn, or any of the other planets, and therefore been unable to experiment on them, which reason is totally insufficient and inadequate for such a conclusion.

If philosophy simply dealt with the results attained by such limited reasoning, then the progress of science would be retarded, and would be limited and confined to actual experience obtained on our own planet and in relation only to that planet. But philosophy is not satisfied with such a narrow and limited outlook, but drawing its conclusions from actual experience on our own planet, in accordance with the rules of philosophy, it seeks to apply such experience gained to the explanation of phenomena of other planets which also revolve round the sun.

By such reasoning we learn that all the other planets have North and South geographical poles like our earth, although we have never actually trodden on those planets, or discovered the poles. We also learn that Mars possesses climatic conditions probably similar to our own earth, as there are certain changes on the surface around the poles, which by analogy we assume to be caused by increase and decrease of snow during the Arctic winter and summer of Mars respectively.

The analogy between our earth and the other planets is very full and complete, as the following results show. Our earth has an atmosphere, so have all the rest of the planets. The earth revolves on its axis from West to East, so do all the rest. The earth possesses two geographical poles, so do all the other planets. The earth revolves round the sun in an orbit of elliptic form, so do the other planets. The earth fulfils all the laws of motion as given by Newton, and all the other planets do the same. The earth fulfils all Kepler's laws, and this is also true of all the others. Indeed, the only difference apparently that exists at present between the earth and all the other planets is, that our earth is a magnet, while at present it is not conceded that all the others are magnets.

Now such a conclusion I venture to say is altogether opposed to every rule of philosophy. For if experience be any guide in philosophy, then according to experience and observations made in respect to the only planet that we can actually experiment on, it most conclusively follows, that not only the earth, but every planet, and indeed every satellite that revolves round its primary planet, is a magnet; otherwise the rule of philosophy which permits us to formulate hypotheses based on experience is entirely violated, and ceases at once to be an universal rule.

So that either the earth is not a magnet, or else, being a magnet by our second Rule of Philosophy, all the other planets are magnets also. This conclusion has already been arrived at by Lord Kelvin, who in writing in his Popular Lectures[32] on the subject says: “If it is true that terrestrial magnetism is a necessary consequence of the magnetism and the rotation of the earth, other bodies comparable in these qualities with the earth, and comparable also with the earth in respect to materials and temperature, such as Venus and Mars, must be magnets, comparable in strength with the earth; and they must have poles similar to the earth, North and South poles on the North and South sides of the equator. It seems probable also that the sun, because of its great mass and its rotation in the same direction as the earth's rotation, is a magnet, with polarities on the North and South sides of the equator, similar to terrestrial North and South magnetic poles.” Further, such a conclusion is entirely in harmony with the view of the solar system revealed in [Art. 81], where we saw that each planet was an electrified body having its own electric field, with its lines of force, being capable of giving rise to all the phenomena associated with electricity. So that if we combine that view of the subject with the view that we are now coming to, we arrive at the conclusion that each planet and satellite, and indeed all bodies that move or revolve in space, are electro-magnets giving rise to magnetic waves in the Aether, which assumption is fully consistent with the electro-magnetic theory of light.

We must now go one step further and apply a similar line of reasoning to the sun, when we shall arrive at exactly the same result that Lord Kelvin arrived at, according to the previous extract. All planets possess an atmosphere, the sun also possesses an atmosphere. All planets revolve on their axes from West to East, so does the sun. All planets possess a North and South pole the same as the sun.

The equatorial diameter of every planet is greater than its polar diameter, and the same truth applies to the sun. It is hotter at the equatorial regions of every planet, and this truth also applies to the sun. Now, if the sun agrees with all the planets in these respects, then we may philosophically conclude that it agrees with them in another respect, viz. that the sun is also a magnet possessing its own magnetic field, which is co-equal and co-extensive with its aetherial electrical field. We have already seen that the sun is an electrified body, possessing its electric field, with its electric lines of force. Therefore the sun is also a magnet, or, to speak more correctly, it is an electro-magnet, and as such gives rise to electro-magnetic waves.