Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Each of these, being the exact complement and counterpart of the other, when applied together to any planet of any size or mass or density, at any distance, fails to affect the distance of that planet in its relation to the sun, but simply establishes it in that distance, subject to certain regulations dependent upon other motions of the sun, and the aetherial medium in which they exist. Thus we learn, that if, in the beginning, Mercury were formed at a distance of 36,000,000 miles, it would for ever remain at that distance; and the same is true of the other planets at their mean distances, no matter what their mass or density may be; and that, according to the first law of motion, the planet would remain in a state of rest until compelled by other forces or motions to change that state, when it would continue moving with uniform motion so long as the motive power applied was uniform.

If, however, the motive power applied was not uniform, then the result would be an increase or decrease of the planet's motion, just in proportion to the increase or decrease of the motive power. This result is in perfect harmony with our statement in [Art. 15], and is in accordance with observation and experience.

Art. 99. Second Law of Motion.--According to Newton's Second Law of Motion, “Change of motion is proportional to the impressed force, and takes place in the direction in which the force is impressed.”

From a consideration of this Law ([Art. 15]) we saw that the impressed force was a compound quantity, being regulated by the mass of the moving body which exerted the impressed force, and that it was also proportionate to the velocity of the moving body; so that if either of these quantities are changed, the total impressed force would be changed also.

We have now to show that our aetherial medium agrees with this second law of motion in so far as the second law of motion agrees with experience and experiments. To do this, we must review our conception of the universal Aether, and remember that Aether is matter, and being matter, it is atomic and gravitative, possessing density, elasticity, inertia, and kinetic energy, the same as any other moving matter.

In this Aether medium we have, according to this conception, something that can both push and pull, or exert force upon any body with which it comes into contact. Further, the inertia and kinetic energy of the Aether at any part of space will be regulated by its mass in that particular part, and if its mass is denser in some parts than others, that part of the aetherial medium possessing the greatest mass will also possess the greatest capacity for impressing force upon any body that exists in the medium. Now we have learned from [Art. 45] that Aether being gravitative, it is denser nearer to the sun, getting gradually less and less dense, the further it recedes from the central body, except where it is bound or associated to some other planet or satellite, and there it gradually gets denser, for the same reason that it is denser nearer to the sun. As, therefore, the Aether gets gradually less dense as it recedes from the sun, the density of the Aether at the mean distance of Mercury, 35,900,000 miles, would not be so great as near the sun's surface; while the density of the aetherial medium at the distance of Venus, 67,000,000 miles, would be less than the density of the aetherial medium at the distance of Mercury. This principle may be applied right through the sun's aetherial electro-magnetic field, until we come to the mean distance of Neptune, which is 2,780,000,000 miles, and there the density of the Aether would be less than at any other part of the aetherial electro-magnetic field around the sun.

So that the mass of the Aether at Mercury, which is equal to the number of aetherial atoms per unit volume, is greater than the mass at Venus. Thus the impressed force which the aetherial medium at the mean distance of Mercury can exert upon any body in its neighbourhood, is greater than the impressed force which the Aether can exert upon any body at the distance of Venus, because of its decreased mass at that distance. In the same way it can be proved that the impressed force which the electro-magnetic Aether exerts on any body at the distance of Venus, is greater than the impressed force which the Aether exerts upon a body at the mean distance of the Earth. So that at the respective mean distances of Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, the electro-magnetic Aether, if in motion, would exert less force at each of the mean distances of these planets exactly proportionate to the decreased mass and decreased velocity of the Aether.

Now what is the motion which the Aether possesses, so far as the sun is concerned? because, upon the particular kind of motion which it possesses will depend the direction in which the impressed force will be exerted according to the second law of motion.

In [Art. 98] we supposed the sun and planets to be stationary in the solar system, each planet being at its respective mean distance, from which it cannot move owing to the equality of the two forces. Now give to the central sun from whence the electro-magnetic Aether waves flow, a rotatory motion on its own axis, which it really possesses, as it rotates on its axis once in every twenty-six days nearly, and this will give to the Aether medium a circular or rotatory motion. This circular or rotatory motion the Aether has already been proved to possess ([Art. 91], where we learned that all solar magnets were caused by electro-magnetic aetherial currents constantly circulating round them). So that the Aether will actually possess two motions: 1st, a radial motion due to the Aether waves generated by the sun, which are radiated out into space with the velocity of light; and 2nd, a circular or rotatory motion. This result is in perfect harmony with our hypothesis as to the cause of the electro-magnetism of the sun ([Art. 91], where we saw that solar magnetism was due to electric currents circulating round the various planets), and we have proved that the Aether has an electro-magnetic basis; thus the rotatory Aether currents and the rotatory electro-magnetic currents are due to one and the same medium.

Now what will be the effect of these circular or rotatory Aether currents on the bodies situated within their field? It must be remembered that we are no longer dealing with a frictionless medium, but with a medium which possesses inertia and kinetic energy the same as any other moving matter. Therefore, as soon as it is set in motion, it will impress its motions upon all planets that come under its control and influence, with the result that as the impressed force is ever directed in a circular form, the planet will be pushed along through space by the moving Aether, and the path it describes will be circular also.