The Earth we know is moving with a velocity of about 64,800 miles per hour around the sun, or an average velocity of 18 miles per second, so that while the Earth is moving 64,800 miles through space to perform the half-circle, E D C, the sun is also travelling 18,000 miles towards the point D.
What, therefore, is the effect of this onward movement of the sun towards the Earth as it tries to complete the half-circle E D C? We have seen that the centrifugal force due to the pressure of the electro-magnetic Aether waves is exactly equal to the centripetal force exerted by the sun on any planet, and if that be so, it can be readily seen that as the sun journeys towards the point D of the Earth's orbit, it tends to approach nearer and nearer the Earth. Thus the intensity of the aetherial pressure owing to the decreased distance will be greatly increased, and the effect of the increased pressure of the Aether upon the planet will be to push it away from the sun, so that the two forces may be equalized, and its mean distance, which is definitely fixed, be maintained as far as possible.
The result will be that, instead of the Earth describing the half-circle E D C, it actually describes the part of the ellipse E F C. Thus it can be seen that while the sun is travelling through space, it is at the same time giving rise to the electro-magnetic Aether waves, which, by their repelling power, repel the Earth from the sun in the direction that the sun is travelling, and hence the half-circle is elongated into that part of the elliptic orbit known as the perihelion, which is that part of the orbit where the distance of any planet from the sun is the least.
The repelling power of the Aether waves is not, however, sufficient to overcome altogether the centripetal force in conjunction with the Earth's motion, with the result that when the Earth arrives at F, its distance is only 91 million miles, that being the least distance between the sun and the Earth. We shall see the result of this decreased distance when we deal with Kepler's Second Law.
We will now proceed to notice the effect of the sun's orbital velocity upon that part of the Earth's orbit which includes the aphelion, or that part in which the Earth occupies a position of the greatest distance from the sun. Proceeding on the same method of reasoning, if the sun were stationary, with the Earth being circled round it by the electro-magnetic Aether currents, then the path described by the Earth would be that of a circle, being represented by the half-circle C G E (Fig. 26).
But it has to be remembered that while the Earth is being circled round the sun by the rotatory electro-magnetic Aether currents, the sun is still travelling on towards S F at the rate of 18,000 miles per hour, while the Earth is travelling in almost an opposite direction towards C G, so that by the time the Earth has got to G, which we will suppose is one quarter of its ellipse, the sun has travelled millions of miles in that time.
Thus it can readily be seen, that by the time the Earth has got to its aphelion, it is at its furthest distance from the sun, simply because the sun has been travelling onwards through space all the time, while the Earth has been receding from it; and as the motion of the Earth has been in an opposite direction, the mean distance has been exceeded, and instead of the Earth being now at its mean distance from the sun, its distance is now 94,500,000 miles. At that part of its orbit, its orbital velocity is at a minimum, because the rotating Aether currents have there a decreased flow and a decreased mass and density, and therefore possess a decreased kinetic energy or motive power.
Thus by the rotating Aether currents working in conjunction with the centrifugal and centripetal forces, can be accounted on a physical basis the first of Kepler's Laws in a manner which is strictly philosophical, as the explanation is simple in conception, does not violate experience or experiment, and satisfactorily accounts for, on a physical basis, the law which it is required to explain.