Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

As the bar magnets are placed in different positions, North pole to North pole, or North to South, and so on, the iron filings will change the figures assumed, indicating in, each case the effect of the lines of force of each magnet upon one another. The iron filings strewed over the magnet are magnetized by induction, with the result that the North pole of one filing attracts the South pole of the next one to it, and this is continued along the whole of one line of force, as revealed by the united iron filings. Faraday believed in the real physical existence of these lines of force, and that belief has been perfected by Clerk Maxwell in two papers which he wrote on “Physical Lines of Force,” which will be considered in another article. We will simply deal with them at present as indications of the existence of the magnetic forces in the medium surrounding any magnet.

Let us apply these facts to the solar system and see what the application yields. We have the sun revolving in the Aether medium represented by the circle S in Fig. 19. Then we have the lines of force extending in curved lines E. and W., but in almost straight lines North and South. We will suppose the axis of the sun to be vertical for the sake of simplicity. It may be asked, how far will these lines of force stretch out into space? The reply is that they stretch and extend throughout the whole solar system, and far away into the depths of space, though with ever-decreasing intensity according to the law of inverse squares. Wherever the aetherial light waves are manifested, there the electro-magnetic waves, with all that they imply, are manifested also. We know that the light waves are existent at least as far as Neptune, a distance of 2800 millions of miles, therefore at least to that extent the electro-magnetic waves are manifested; and wherever the electro-magnetic waves to which the sun has given birth are manifested, there we have the existence of the electro-magnetic field, which is co-existent and co-extensive with the electric field of the sun. Further, wherever we get the magnetic field, there we get the lines of force which are as real as air or ocean currents, and are caused, as Maxwell indicated ([Art. 44]), by the motions of the atomic Aether. Wherever these lines of force are closest together, there the intensity of the magnetic force is at its greatest.

By actual experiment, it can be demonstrated that the lines of force are closest together nearest to the magnet, and therefore applying that fact to the solar magnetic field, the lines of force should be closest together nearest to the surface of the sun, which is exactly what we have already learned. For if Aether be gravitative, then it will be densest nearest to the sun than further away, and the vortex atoms which represent our aetherial atoms will be pressed more closely together near to the surface than further away.

We have learned that Aether has an electro-magnetic basis, and it is that very fact which gives rise to the existence of these lines of force. So that the magnetic phenomena as indicated in the lines of force conceived by Faraday harmonize with the fact that the sun is an electro-magnet; and that Aether, which has an electro-magnetic basis, is also gravitative, with the result that the lines of force are closest together nearest the surface of the sun, where the magnetic force is greatest in its intensity and power.

Now let us apply the principle of the experiment to the solar system by bringing a magnet into a magnetic field, and let us see what the result is. We have learned from the experiment, that if a magnet is moved along any one of the lines of force the dip of the magnet changes, gradually changing from a horizontal to a perpendicular position in accordance with its relation to the two poles of the magnet. From the previous article we have come to the conclusion that not only is the earth a magnet, but that all the other planets are magnets also, so that if any of these are brought into the magnetic field of the sun, then the magnetic axis of the planet, which corresponds to the needle in our experiment, must assume a certain dip in relation to the sun, setting itself along those lines of force which are in the immediate neighbourhood of the planet.

Let us place the earth, for example, at a distance of 90 millions of miles from the sun in the magnetic equator, or that line which exactly divides the magnetic field into two equal halves. According to our experiment, the magnetic axis will now be exactly parallel with the axis of the sun, that is, exactly vertical, pointing North and South, as seen in position 1 in Fig. 19. But suppose that the earth is to the North of the magnetic equator of the field, what happens then? The result will be that the magnetic axis of the earth will dip towards the magnetic North pole of the sun (position 2, Fig. 19), while if the earth be to the South of the magnetic equator, its axis will dip in the opposite direction (position 3), the magnetic axis setting itself in each case along the lines of force which exist in the Aether in that region or space. Thus it can be seen at a glance, that if the earth changes its position at any time in its orbit in relation to the magnetic equator, such a change will effect the total dip of the magnetic axis. In other words, the magnetic poles which indicate the position of the magnetic axis will not occupy the same position in relation to the geographical North and South poles, sometimes appearing to the East and sometimes to the West, and at other times being coincident with the same as it moves to the North or South of the magnetic equator of the sun's electro-magnetic field.

We have to remember, also, that the earth is constantly varying its distance in relation to the sun, being at a distance of ninety and a half millions of miles at its perihelion, or that part of its orbit nearest to the sun; while it is ninety-four and a half millions of miles at its aphelion, or that part of its orbit furthest away from the sun. This implies that as it proceeds from that point in space furthest away from the sun, and approaches a point nearer to the sun, it will pass into places of greater magnetic intensity, with the result that the intensity of the electro-magnetic waves is increased; and the magnetism of the earth is accordingly affected by that fact.

When we come to deal with the earth as a magnet more directly, we shall see that all the variations of terrestrial magnetism may be satisfactorily explained by the fact that the sun is, as we have indicated in this article, an electro-magnet, possessing its magnetic field with its lines of force, and therefore able to give rise to all the phenomena incidental to and associated with any ordinary magnet.