Aether and Gravitation

by William George Hooper

Now, if electricity, as I have indicated, be due to certain motions in the Aether, then it can easily be seen that postulating atomicity for electricity will be the same as postulating atomicity for the Aether. Dr. Larmor[22] definitely and clearly states, “that each electron has an effective mass of aetherial origin, which forms part, and may be the whole, of the mass of matter to which it is attached;” and again points out (p. 64) that “an electron is nothing more than a point singularity or pole in the electro-dynamic and optical Aether.” Thus we see that Dr. Larmor's hypothesis as to the atomicity of electricity is a further proof of the atomicity of Aether, and is also in harmony with the electro-magnetic theory of light.

Now in dealing with electricity as a mode of motion, it will be necessary to show that electricity is also a form of energy in the same way that heat and light are forms of energy.

If it can be demonstrated that electricity is a form of energy, then it can easily be demonstrated that work can be done by it, and that that work may take a mechanical form in the same way that the energy of heat and light may produce mechanical results. Clerk Maxwell has given us, in his greatest work, his conception of the two kinds of energy due to electricity and magnetism. On the subject he writes: “In the theory of Electricity and Magnetism accepted in this treatise, two forms of energy are recognized, the Electro-Static and Electro-Kinetic (paragraphs 630 and 636), and these are supposed to have their seat not merely in electrified or magnetized bodies, but in every part of surrounding space, wherever electric or magnetic force is observed to act. Hence our theory agrees with the undulatory theory of light in assuming the existence of a medium which is capable of becoming susceptible to two forms of energy.”[23] The question has arisen many times as to what is meant by the terms Electro-Static and Electro-Kinetic energy used by Maxwell, and various hypotheses have been advanced to explain the same.

Electro-static energy is said to be that phase of electricity in which we deal with stresses set up in the Aether by an electrified body at rest, whether that body be small or large. It further deals with the process of induction, that is, the action of an electrified body upon another body, such action taking place through the medium between the two bodies. Electro-kinetic energy is the energy due to electricity in motion. On this point Maxwell says: “A conducting circuit in which the current has been set up has the power of doing work in virtue of the current, for it is really and truly energy. 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 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.” (Arts. 551 and 552.)

It is not our purpose to deal with the electro-kinetic form of energy referred to by Maxwell in this chapter. We shall deal with that form of energy due to electricity in the succeeding chapter. We will consider first the effect of the electro-static energy in relation to electrified bodies, but I wish it to be distinctly understood, that in all the different kinds of electric phenomena manifested, the Aether plays the chief part, and without it, none of the phenomena observed could be produced; because, what Aether is to light and heat, so it is to electricity, being that medium which by its motions propagates and gives rise to all electrical phenomena.

This being so, we have now to apply some of the facts taught us by electricity, and especially by the electro-magnetic theory of light, to our solar system, with the hope that we shall find further evidence of a Centrifugal Force which is physical in character, and whose action can be traced throughout the whole realm of space. Let us, in starting to apply some of the truths already learned, recall some of the facts concerning light, its production and its propagation. We recall the fact that light is produced by the action of the sun upon the Aether, giving rise to waves which speed away from the generating source with a velocity of 186,000 miles per second. We further remember that Hertz has definitely proved that these light waves are identical with electro-magnetic waves, as they ought to be if the Aether possesses an electrical basis, as Dr. Larmor and Professor Lodge suggest.

In order that there may be no mistake on this point, let me quote from one of Hertz' papers, where, in his conclusion, he says: “The experiments described appear to me, at any rate, eminently adapted to remove any doubt of the identity of light, radiant heat, and electro-magnetic wave motion.” Now, what I want to point out regarding this fact is this. If the sun gives rise to the aetherial light waves, and these light waves are identical with electro-magnetic waves as proved by Hertz, then the sun must either be an electrified body or else a magnet.

It must be one or the other, because, if it were not, we should then have an anomaly in Nature of a body emitting electro-magnetic waves which is itself neither electrified nor a magnet. Therefore, according to our second Rule of Philosophy, such a body would be incapable of giving rise to these waves, as such a result would be contrary to universal experience and experiment.

We know that the earth is a magnet, but up to the present it has never been proved that the sun is a magnet, although, as I shall show later on, Lord Kelvin and others have suggested such a possibility. If we assume that the sun is a magnet, our grounds for assumption would not be so strong at this point, and our reasons so philosophical, as they are if we assume that the sun is an electrified body.

We have philosophical reasoning to prove that the sun is an electrified body in the fact that it emits or gives rise to electro-magnetic waves in the Aether, and no other hypothesis can be made other than that the sun is an electrified body, in order to prove the connection between the two.