Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

If, as spectrum analysis seems to teach us, there are nebulae in various stages of formation, there must be a period in their history of development when they had an origin. What, then, is the origin of a nebula, and what the physical explanation of that origin? From optical phenomena we learn that all space is not empty, but filled with the Aether which is universal ([Art. 42]). What is the relation, then, of this glowing nebulous matter to this universal Aether? If it be suggested that there is no relation, then we are in the unphilosophical position of having to admit, either that the nebulous matter of which the nebulae are composed never had any origin, or that it had its origin in some unknown and still undiscovered medium which exists in space. But both of these hypotheses are unphilosophical, as the former is contrary to all experience, while the latter is opposed to that simplicity of conception by which we only postulate one medium, the Aether, to fill all space.

Thus we are led to the conclusion, that the gaseous matter, be it hydrogen or nitrogen, must have some relation to the electro-magnetic Aether that is so universal in its extent. Already this relationship has been dealt with by one who has done more for the development of aetherial physics than any other scientist. Lord Kelvin, in his paper “On the Clustering of Gravitational Matter in any part of the Universe,”[42] has solved this relationship, though in so doing he has had to depart somewhat from the idea of an incompressible Aether. In that paper he writes as follows: “If we consider Aether to be matter, we postulate that it has rigidity enough for the vibrations of light, but we have no right to say that it is absolutely incompressible. We must admit that sufficiently great pressure could condense the Aether in a given space, allowing the Aether in the surrounding space to come in towards the ideal shrinking surface.” In another part of the paper, dealing with the same question, he writes: “In regions where the density was greater than in neighbouring regions, the density would become greater still; in places of less density, the density would become less, and large regions would quickly become void or nearly void of atoms. These large void regions would extend so as to completely surround regions of greater density.” He then points out, that as soon as this density becomes something like the density of the atmosphere, then collisions would take place between the particles, and continues: “Each collision would give rise to a train of waves in the Aether. These waves would carry away energy, spreading it out through the void Aether of infinite space. The loss of energy thus taken away from the atoms would reduce large condensing clusters to the conditions of a gas in equilibrium under the influence of its own gravity, rotating like our sun or moving at moderate speed as in spiral nebulae. Gravitational condensation would at first produce rise of temperature, followed later by cooling, ultimately freezing, giving solid bodies, collision between which would produce meteoric stones such as we see them.”

Here then we have a definitive relationship between Aether and nebulae given to us from one of the keenest intellects of the present time, but in order for that relationship to become strictly philosophical, the conception of the Aether as advanced in this work must be accepted. For with the present conception of a frictionless Aether, such a hypothesis is altogether untenable, because it supposes something that is contrary to all experience and observation.

On the basis of a condensing frictionless Aether into any kind of solid body, be it nebula, meteor, sun or star, we have to suppose that it is possible for a medium (the Aether, which is outside the Law of Gravitation according to the present theory) to be condensed into a body, that is, a nebula or meteor which is subject to the Law of Gravitation; and the question arises, at what point in the history of its condensation does this frictionless Aether pass out of the condition of having no weight, to the condition when it has weight; or, in other words, from the condition when it is outside the Law of Gravitation, to the condition when it comes under the Law of Gravitation?

No satisfactory solution can possibly be offered to such a problem. Therefore one of two results must follow, either that the Aether is not frictionless, but possesses weight; or, that the condensation of the Aether is not possible. With the theory of Aether presented in this work, the whole question receives a simple and philosophical solution. As Aether is matter, it is therefore atomic; and being atomic, it is subject to the Law of Gravitation; and therefore, possessing mass and weight, it can readily pass into other forms of matter, and with such a conception Lord Kelvin's hypothesis becomes not only possible but probable. So that it is exceedingly probable that nebulae are nothing more nor less than condensed Aether, the same as comets were suggested to be condensed Aether. It may be asserted that such a hypothesis lacks that experimental evidence which is so necessary for its establishment, but I hope to show in the last chapter that Faraday has given the world that very experimental evidence which will place this hypothesis upon a firm and solid foundation, and enable it to pass out of the region of the hypothetical into the region of fact and experiment.

According to our hypothesis, therefore, nebulae are simply condensations of the electro-magnetic Aether that exists in interstellar space, and the various spectra of the different nebulae indicate the stage of development to which the process has arrived. Where the spectra are bright, and continuous, and free from any dark lines, there we have simply the Aether in its very first stage of condensation; and where we have the dark lines appearing, such lines indicate a more advanced stage to which the process has arrived.

[42] Philosophical Magazine, July 1902.

Art. 121. Nebular Hypothesis.--The Nebular Hypothesis was first introduced by Kant in his work on the History of the Earth and Theory of the Heavens.

In that work he attempted to explain the origin of the universe on purely mechanical lines. Laplace, a French mathematician, about the same time came to similar conclusions as Kant had done, and published his views in his work on Exposition du Système du Monde, and later on in his more famous work the Mécanique Céleste.

A feature common to both these theories rested in the fact, that they supposed that all material bodies which exist in the universe once existed in a nebulous condition, and that they were formed out of this nebulous matter. Further, that this nebulous matter gradually condensed, and as it condensed, a rotational motion was imparted to them, which rotation quickened as the condensation was continued.