Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Try to conceive what the result would be if the atmosphere were stationary at the earth's surface in the equatorial regions. It would mean that any body on its surface would be whirled round at that rate, while the atmosphere, being stationary, would exert a power equal to a wind travelling at the rate of 1000 miles per hour.

Under the influence of such a hurricane, nothing could exist on the surface of the earth at the equator, if the earth revolved on its axis and the atmosphere did not participate in that motion. But the atmosphere is gravitative, and being gravitative, it is not only held bound to the earth as it revolves on its axis in its onward rush through space, but accepts the revolving motion of the earth, with the result that as the earth revolves on its axis, the atmosphere revolves also.

Thus a balloon at the equator if allowed to rise several hundred feet above the surface could remain comparatively stationary if held by a rope to overcome its tendency to rise, whereas such an event would be impossible if the atmosphere failed to receive only half of the motion of the earth's surface, as it would still have a power equal to that of a wind blowing at the rate of 500 miles an hour. If, however, we come further north, or go further south, then we find that the surface of the earth does not have the same velocity as at the equator, with the result that the atmosphere has not the same velocity either; consequently it would travel slower in the temperate regions than in the equatorial regions, and slower still at the poles than in the temperate regions.

We know by experiment what the effect of increased velocity has upon any whirling body; it tends to enlarge the body at those parts where the velocity is the greatest, the consequence being that the bulging out of the atmosphere would be greatest at the equator. We find a similar result in the shape of the earth, where the equatorial diameter is greater than the polar diameter, because of the centrifugal force being greatest in the equatorial regions.

We have, therefore, to apply these facts to the aetherial medium which surrounds all planetary and stellar bodies in the same way as the atmosphere does; and which, being also gravitative, is equally subject to the same laws of motion. We have seen, therefore, that not only does the earth revolve on its axis, but that the atmosphere revolves on its axis also, and that the velocity of its revolution is greatest in the equatorial regions, the atmosphere spreading or bulging out in those parts more than in any other part of the earth's surface.

Let us suppose that the atmosphere extends 200 miles above the earth, and that there we come to the pure Aether of universal space. In view of the fact that Aether is Matter, and therefore gravitative, it is reasonable and logical to conclude that exactly the same result follows in relation to the atmosphere and the Aether at that height, as follows in relation to the earth and the atmosphere 200 miles beneath.

Unless this view is accepted, we should then have our second Rule of Philosophy violated, as we should have matter revolving in more rarefied matter, and failing to impress upon that rarefied condition of matter the motion either partially or wholly which it itself possesses; and such a result being contradictory to all experience cannot be admitted from a philosophical standpoint.

Therefore, the only solution is, that the rotating atmosphere imparts some of its motion to the aetherial atmosphere, which in its turn rotates, and that that rotation is governed by exactly the same conditions as govern the relation that exists between the earth and the atmosphere. Therefore the Aether in space associated with each planet or satellite or sun or star, rotates with the rotating body, and that rotation imparts to the Aether a greater bulging out in the equatorial regions of the aetherial atmosphere than in any other part thereof. It is interesting in relation to this point to note Herschel's view of the effect of the rotation of any body upon the Aether. In his Outlines of Astronomy, in a note, p. 358, he states: “Supposing the neighbourhood of the sun to be filled with a material fluid; it is not conceivable that the circulation of planets in it for ages should not have impressed upon it some degree of rotation in their own direction, and this may preserve them from the effects of accumulated resistance.“

In this way we arrive at the conception of the motions of the Aether suggested by Prof. Challis from the magnetic character of the earth, which he thought were due to aetherial currents circulating around it, and we learn that such physical conception of the Aether fully agrees with the explanation of celestial bodies being electro-magnets; because, we have only to add to our rotating Aether that which it has been proved to possess, viz. an electro-magnetic basis, and we have at once the currents of electricity circulating round the earth and other planetary or solar bodies, by which is obtained the true explanation of the permanent magnetism of all celestial bodies.

Now to some minds unconversant with scientific research and knowledge, such a supposition may seem to be incredible, but that incredibility may disappear, when I say that the fact that the Aether is bound to the earth, and goes along through space with it, has actually been proved by some of the most delicate and successful experiments that have been made in recent times: experiments of which Lord Kelvin has stated that he can find no error or flaw in them. I refer to the scientific experiments of Michelson and Morley of America. For full particulars of these experiments I must refer the reader to the American Journal of Science, 1886, vol. 31, or to the Phil. Mag., vol. 44.