Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

The earth does not rush through the Aether, but the Aether being gravitative, it is associated with and bound to each planet, and accompanies that planet in its journey though space, rotating with it in the same way that the atmosphere does, as we shall prove later on.

This conception is fully in accord with our hypothesis as to the physical explanation of the cause of the electro-magnetic character of all the heavenly bodies, and indeed is the only physical solution that can adequately account for all the varied phenomena hitherto unexplained in connection with the celestial mechanism.

From the foregoing statements, we are now in a position to consider the term Electro-Kinetic Energy, as used by Clerk Maxwell. What does he mean by Electro-Kinetic Energy? Let us see what he has to say about the term himself.

In par. 636 of his Magnetism and Electricity he writes: “According to our hypothesis we assume kinetic energy to exist wherever there is magnetic force, that is, in general, in every part of the field. This energy exists, therefore, in some kind of motion of the matter in every portion of space;“ while again, in par. 569, he states: “The electric current cannot be conceived except as a kinetic phenomenon.“ Even Faraday speaks of the electric current as “something progressive, and not a mere arrangement“ (Exp. Res. 283).

Then again in par. 552 he writes: “It appears, therefore, that a system containing an electric current is a seat of energy of some kind, and, since we can form no conception of an electric current except as a kinetic phenomenon, its energy must be kinetic energy, that is to say, the energy which a moving body has in virtue of its motion.“

Here, therefore, according to Clerk Maxwell, the kinetic energy of an electro-magnetic field is nothing more or less than the energy which a moving body possesses in virtue of its motion. Any other explanation of kinetic energy would be opposed to all the Rules of Philosophy; for experience in its widest form incontrovertibly proves that all kinetic energy is associated, and alone associated, with a moving body; therefore in all electro-magnetic fields there is this kinetic energy ever being manifested. We have, however, learned that the solar system forms a huge electro-magnetic field, traversed by lines of force, as Maxwell and Faraday suggested. Therefore, in the solar system, there must be this kinetic energy due to the motion of a moving body, which is the electro-magnetic Aether.

We have, however, just arrived at the conclusion that in the solar system there is ever going on a circulatory or rotatory movement of the electro-magnetic Aether forming currents around each electro-magnet. On the hypothesis of an atomic and gravitating Aether we have, therefore, a medium or body continually circulating, which medium possesses inertia and momentum, and it is philosophically possible for such a rotating medium to possess kinetic energy. So that our explanation of this term, as used by Clerk Maxwell, is, that this kinetic energy is indeed due to the momentum of the moving Aether. Such a hypothesis is strictly philosophical, and literally fulfils the statements made by Clerk Maxwell himself in the paragraphs already referred to.

A remarkable feature about this hypothesis lies in the fact, that it is the very hypothesis that Von Helmholtz suggested as the explanation of the term. He came to the conclusion that the kinetic energy was due to the momentum of the moving Aether. But with a frictionless Aether such a hypothesis, although correct, was philosophically untenable. In view of the theory of the Aether presented in this work, however, both Clerk Maxwell's and Von Helmholtz's statements find their literal and perfect fulfilment. So that in an atomic Aether, which is gravitative because atomic, and rotatory because it is gravitative, combined with its electro-magnetic basis as proved by Hertz, we find for the first time a correct philosophical explanation of one of the most puzzling terms used by Maxwell in his greatest work on Magnetism and Electricity. This solution alone ought to stamp the theory of an atomic and gravitating electro-magnetic Aether with that authority that is always associated with the names of two such great thinkers and experimentalists as those just mentioned.

The fact that the Aether is held bound to a planet has already been suggested by Sir G. Stokes to account for the aberration of light already referred to. In the Phil. Mag., July 1845, he writes: “I shall suppose that the earth and the planets carry a portion of Aether along with them, so that the Aether close to the surface is at rest relatively to the earth, while its velocity alters as we recede from its surface, till at no great distance it is at rest in space.“ Sir G. Stokes does not, however, say how the Aether is held bound to the earth, and apart from an Aether which is gravitative, no satisfactory explanation can be given. Further, it is noticeable, that he suggests that the other planets also carry part of the Aether associated with them along with each planet as it pursues its journey. It would be distinctly unphilosophical to assume that the earth was the only planet that carried its aetherial field with it. So that by following Sir G. Stokes' suggestion, we practically arrive at the same conclusion in relation to the motions of the Aether that we have already arrived at from magnetic phenomena.

With this view of the case we are now in a position to answer a question asked by Professor Schuster at the British Association in 1892. He asked, “Is not every large rotating mass a magnet?“ and added, “If it is, the sun must be a powerful magnet. The comets' tails, which eclipse observations show stretching out from the sun in all directions, probably consist of electric discharges.“ Now, in relation to this question, the answer is that every rotating body in the Aether is undoubtedly an electro-magnet. Thus, not only is the sun an electro-magnet, but every planet and satellite, and every meteor that rotates in the electro-magnetic Aether, is converted into a magnet, partly by that rotation, and partly by the currents induced in the Aether by that rotation. We shall also find when we come to deal with the phenomena of comets' tails, that Professor Schuster is also right as to their cause, and that they are due to electro-magnetic repulsions originated in the Aether by the sun, which is an electro-magnet.