Art. 102. Aether and Kepler's First Law.--In Art. 26 we learned that according to the First Law of Kepler, each planet revolves round the sun in an elliptic orbit, with the sun occupying one of the foci.

We also saw that that elliptic orbit was produced according to Newton by the conjoint working of the centripetal and centrifugal forces in association with the three Laws of Motion, to which laws had to be added a corollary, which is termed the Parallelogram of Forces, before the First Law of Kepler could be fulfilled.

In making any hypothesis as to the physical cause of Kepler's Laws, if it can be shown that the same aetherial medium that gives rise to the centrifugal force, also gives rise to the centripetal force, and that the same medium by its rotatory motions also fulfils the three laws of motion, and gives a satisfactory physical explanation of all Kepler's Laws; then, according to our three Rules of Philosophy, we shall have found a physical medium which, by its motions and pressures and tensions, can give rise to all the phenomena exhibited in the celestial mechanism. Such a physical explanation will be philosophically correct, in that it is simple in its conception, is entirely in harmony with observation and experiment, and satisfactorily accounts for, and that on a physical basis, all the phenomena associated with the whole of the celestial mechanism.

We have therefore to apply the motions of the Aether medium to the solar system, and by so doing reveal the physical explanation of all Kepler's Laws, in the same way that Newton revealed their correctness from the mathematical standpoint. Let us review the conception of the solar system as given in Art. 99, so that we may be able to proceed from that physical conception of a stationary solar system to a moving system.

Thus we see the sun in a stationary system occupying exactly the centre of that system. The solar energies are in full play, generating electro-magnetic Aether waves which are radiated forth into space with the velocity of light. Then, as there is given to the sun a rotatory motion on its axis, that rotatory motion imparts to the gravitating aetherial medium a circulatory or rotatory motion which spreads out through space with ever-increasing intensity.

By their radiating motion the Aether waves would repel all planets from their central body, the sun, if they were not counterbalanced by the centripetal force; and the two forces, the centrifugal and the centripetal forces, find their equilibrium at the mean distance of each planet, thus fixing and regulating permanently the distance and orbit of each planetary world.

At the same time, the rotatory motion of the electro-magnetic Aether currents, according to the second law of motion, would act on the planets by their kinetic or moving energy, and so circle them round the sun, their controlling centre. As long as the sun was quite stationary, while still possessing a rotation on its axis, if such a thing were possible, so long would the conception of the ancients be fulfilled, and the rotation of all the planets would be strictly circular in form, and their orbits would be that of a circle only, as proved by Sir W. R. Hamilton (Art. 99).

But, as is well known, the sun itself possesses an orbital motion of its own, so that, while all the associated planetary system is revolving round it, the sun with all that system is being carried along through space in an orbit which is also elliptic in form, as we shall see later on.

According to Herschel, the sun is moving towards the constellation of Hercules with a velocity of about 18,000 miles per hour, and the problem to be faced is, what is the effect of the sun's orbital velocity upon the circular motion of the planets? By solving that problem, we shall arrive at a physical conception for the first time of Kepler's Laws, and shall see that the first of Kepler's Laws is solved simply by giving an orbital velocity to any central body, the result of which will be that the circular form of any planet's orbit will be changed from the circular into one of elliptic form.

Let me ask the reader to perform a very simple experiment to confirm this fact. Take a piece of string and a lead pencil, and start to draw a circle on a piece of paper (Fig. 24). When, however, one quarter of the circle has been drawn, viz. D F, move the end of the piece of string representing the centre of the circle along the paper, as represented in the diagram, from A to B. The result will be that the pencil will now travel parallel with the moving centre for a time from F to G, and then, when the centre is brought to rest again, the other part of the half ellipse G H may be completed. In the same way, by reversing the motion, the other half of the ellipse may be completed. So that it is possible for an ellipse to be formed simply by moving the central point of a circle, and the motion of that central point will change the form of a circle into an ellipse. It is something like this that takes place in the planetary world, with this difference, that the central point which represents the sun does not return from one focus to another, but continues to journey on through space, with the result that the orbit of any planet is not strictly an ellipse, as we shall see later on. We have, then, the sun occupying the centre of the solar system, with all the planets revolving round it. We will take the sun and the Earth as examples. Let S in the diagram represent the sun, and E the Earth at its mean distance of 92,000,000 miles away (Fig. 25).

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.

If we consider the rotating Aether currents as purely currents of electricity, then exactly the same results follow. For, as we shall see later, Professor Lodge in his Modern Views of Electricity proves that electricity possesses both inertia and momentum, and if electricity possesses these properties, then it also possesses the requisite properties to enable the currents to propel or push any planet around its central body, or a satellite round its primary planet. Therefore the same course of reasoning that applies to the rotating Aether currents, equally applies to the currents of electricity that circulate round each satellite, planet, and sun and star, and by that circulation gives rise to the electro-magnetism associated with each body, while at the same time they supply the kinetic energy which enables any dependent or associated body to be propelled round their controlling centre.Art. 103. Second Law of Kepler.--According to Kepler's Second Law (Art. 27), we learn that the radius vector, which is the imaginary straight line joining any planet to the sun, describes, or sweeps over, equal areas in equal times. So that, while Kelper's First Law describes the path which a planet takes in revolving round the sun, the Second Law shows how the velocity of that planet varies in different parts of its orbit.

While, however, there is a difference in the velocity of any planet at various points in the orbit, there is still a proportion existing between its various velocities, in that equal areas are covered in equal times. We have now to apply the hypothesis of our rotatory Aether currents, in conjunction with the centripetal and centrifugal forces, in order to see whether the Second Law of Kepler can be explained on a physical basis, in the same way that Newton explained it from the mathematical standpoint.

We have again to conceive the sun as the centre of two equal but exactly opposite forces, and also possessing a rotatory motion on its axis, with the electro-magnetic Aether currents ever circulating round it. If the sun were stationary, it will be manifest at once that Kepler's Second Law would be literally and strictly fulfilled, for in that case the orbit of all the planets would be perfect circles, and the motion of planets in their orbits would be perfectly uniform, and therefore equal areas would be covered by the radius vector in equal times. Thus any quarter of the orbit would be described in exactly a 1/4 of a year, 1/12 in 1/12 of a year, 1/40 in 1/40 of a year, and so on, the time being exactly proportional to the proportion of the area covered by the radius vector.

The area covered would always be uniform, because the radius vector would always be uniform in length. But, as we have seen in the previous article, the distance of a planet from the sun, that is, the length of the radius vector, is not uniform, as the Earth is nearer to the sun at perihelion, and further away at aphelion, its distance gradually changing as it passes from each of these points to the other.

Now what is the effect of the decreased distance upon the circulating or rotatory Aether currents? We have already seen (Art. 99) that the closer these Aether currents are to the central body, the sun, the greater is their velocity and the greater their mass, so that the total impressed force which they exert over any planet is greater the nearer that planet is to the sun. This is proved by the fact that Mercury has a greater orbital velocity than Venus, Venus than the Earth, the Earth than Mars, and so on right through the whole of the planetary system. In view of these facts, let us again consider the effect of the sun not being stationary, but having an orbital velocity of its own through space. Thus let the sun be at S and the Earth be at point D of its orbit (Fig. 25).

The circulating Aether currents are ever acting upon the Earth, carrying it round the sun with them, while at the same time the centripetal force is pulling it towards the sun with a certain intensity, but the centrifugal force is repelling the Earth with exactly the same intensity, and if the sun remained motionless the two forces would exactly balance each other, while the Earth would describe the half-circle E D C. But while the Earth is moving towards the point D with a velocity of 64,000 miles per hour, the sun is also moving at the velocity of about 18,000 miles per hour towards that point.

Thus the repelling power of the radiating electro-magnetic Aether waves has to overcome, not only its exact counterpart, the centripetal force, but also the onward motion of the sun as it rushes on its course through space. This the centrifugal force is unable to do, with the result that the distance is gradually lessened, and instead of the Earth describing the arc E D, it describes the arc E F, at which point its distance is at the minimum, or about 91 millions of miles.

Or, to put the same fact in another way. When the Earth is at E, the centripetal force and the orbital velocity of the Earth and the sun are acting conjointly, with the result that they overcome the centrifugal force, and the distance is gradually decreased. This decreased distance means an increased aetherial density and an increased velocity of the aetherial currents, with the result, that as the distance is decreased, the orbital velocity of the Earth is gradually increased, so that by the time the Earth gets to F, at its perihelion, it has now acquired its greatest orbital velocity, and is carried round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents at its maximum velocity.

Now let us look at the Earth being circled round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents as it goes on to perform the other half of the orbit. In this case we have the orbital motion of the sun and the centrifugal force working conjointly, with the result that together they overcome the centripetal force, and the Earth is repelled and carried beyond its mean distance. Let S represent the sun, the Earth being at point C of its orbit, after passing round its perihelion, and at this decreased distance it is carried along by the circulating and denser Aether with its maximum velocity (Fig. 26).

Now while the Earth is going on to describe the half-circle C G E, the sun is still pursuing its journey at the rate of about 18,000 miles per hour, only this time in a direction away from the Earth. As, however, the Earth has not yet regained its mean distance of 92,000,000 miles, the centrifugal force is still greater than the centripetal force, so that the centrifugal force is urging the planet away from the sun with greater intensity than the centripetal force is attracting it, as the two forces are only in equilibrium at the mean distance of the Earth.

Thus, as stated, the orbital motion of the sun and the centrifugal forces are now working conjointly together, with the result that the Earth is repelled gradually further and further from its central body, until it reaches its maximum distance of 94,500,000 miles. While, however, the distance is gradually being increased, it is passing into a part of the Aether possessing not only a decreased mass, but also a decreased velocity, with the result that the motive power or kinetic energy of the aetherial currents at the increased distance is gradually lessened, and as a natural result the velocity of the Earth is also decreased; so that by the time the Earth has got to its furthest distance from the sun, its orbital velocity is slowest, because of the decreased momentum of the aetherial currents.

Thus we can account for the difference of velocity of a planet in its orbit by the same electro-magnetic Aether currents working in conjunction with the sun's orbital motion, and that upon a strictly physical basis. This result is in perfect harmony with Kepler's Second Law, which states that equal areas are described by the radius vector in equal times. Newton proved that by the Law of Gravitation Attraction he could account for this second law, as well as all the others, and as we have not destroyed that law, but perfected it by giving it its exact complement and counterpart, the same mathematical reasoning that applies to the centripetal force must equally apply to the centrifugal force, and if it is true that the centripetal force works harmoniously with the second of Kepler's Laws, then it is equally true that the centrifugal force does also, as the two are inseparably and indisputably united together in the atomic Aether. We have, however, a physical basis for this centrifugal force, and we have an equal physical basis for the centripetal force, as we shall see later, and therefore, by the conjoint working of these two forces taken in conjunction with the orbital motion of the sun, we have now a physical conception for the first time of Kepler's Laws, as well as a mathematical conception, that physical conception being derived from the pressure and motions of the universal Aether.Art. 104. Aether and Kepler's Third Law.--In Art. 28 we saw that according to the Third Law of Kepler, the square of the periodic time was proportionate to the cube of the mean distance of that planet from its controlling centre. Newton proved that this Third Law was mathematically correct, and that it could be mathematically accounted for by the existence and operation of the universal Law of Gravitation. As the centrifugal force is the exact opposite of that force in intensity, proportion and mode of operation, it follows that mathematically the centrifugal force also bears the same relation to the Third Law that the centripetal force does.

We have, however, a physical basis for the centrifugal force, and it is with the physical conception of this Third Law rather than with its mathematical character that we are now dealing. Kepler by his Third Law showed that the chief regulating factor in the orbital velocity of a planet was its mean distance from the sun.

The great regulator of the velocity of any planet in its orbit is simply planetary distance, and planetary distance alone. If there were no other law which operated in the solar system than the centripetal force, or the attractive force due to gravity, then such factors as mass and density of a planet ought to play a most important part in the orbital velocity of a planet, as the centripetal force directly recognizes the influence of mass, that is, volume and density, but says nothing about mean distances. This fact unmistakably points to the existence, and demands the operation, of another force, which shall explain, and that on a physical as well as a mathematical basis, how it is that the mean distance of a planet from any centre regulates the orbital velocity of that planet.

The only real and true conception of such a force is to be found in the radiating waves and circulating motions of the aetherial medium, which waves, like water waves, increase in their radial outflow and extent with a regular decreasing intensity, and at the same time decrease in their angular velocity as they recede from the sun. With such a regular decrease of kinetic energy, there must necessarily be imparted to the planets, as their mean distance is increased, a decreased velocity of motion, with the natural result, that the further a planet is from the sun, the less will be its orbital velocity, and that in a regular and uniform proportion as the distance is increased.

Now let us view the matter for a moment in its application to the solar system, and by so doing show the simplicity of the explanation, and at the same time give added proof to the existence and operation of the circulating aetherial currents that exist in space. Let us again picture the solar fires burning in all their fierceness and intensity, every atom and particle of the sun being thrown thereby into the most intense state of activity, and by their energy of motion creating electro-magnetic Aether waves in their myriads, which speed away from the sun on every side.

Under their influence, all subordinate worlds would be carried away into space, were it not for the complementary Law of Gravitation Attraction, that is, the centripetal force. But to every planet, by the operation of some governing and determining principle, a mean distance has been given, and at that mean distance the two forces find their equilibrium; and by their conjoint and co-equal working hold each planet at that mean distance with a power that cannot be broken. Each power or force may be modified under certain conditions, as shown in the two preceding articles; but, whether the planet be repelled further away, or attracted nearer to the sun, through the onward motion of the sun, the two forces ever seek to maintain their equilibrium, and to place the planet at its mean position assigned to it in the solar system.

The nearer that mean position is to the sun, the greater is the velocity of the aetherial currents which circulate round the sun; and the greater their mass, volume for volume, on account of the increasing density of the Aether, the nearer it is to the sun. The effect of this increased velocity, and the increased mass of the circulating Aether currents, is to impart to planets nearest to the sun the greatest orbital velocity; while, the greater the distance, the less will be the orbital velocity of the planet. That this is exactly in accordance with observation and experience may be proved by considering the respective mean distances and orbital velocities of the various planets.

Mercury, with a mean distance of 35,900,000 miles, is circled round the sun at the enormous rate of about 108,000 miles per hour, accomplishing its entire journey in the short period of 88 days. Venus, whose mean distance is about 67,000,000 miles, is carried round the sun at the reduced rate of 78,000 miles per hour, completing her orbit in the increased time of 224 days. Our own Earth, at the still further increased mean distance of 92,000,000 miles, performs her journey at the reduced velocity of 64,000 miles per hour, accomplishing the journey round the sun in a period of 365 days.

Thus, the further we get from the sun, the slower becomes the movement of a planet in its orbit, and the longer it takes to complete its revolution round its controlling centre. Mars, at the increased distance of 141,000,000 miles, possesses a reduced velocity of 54,000 miles per hour, and completes its orbit in the increased duration of 686 days. So the decrease of velocity goes on, as the planets increase their mean distance from the sun, as the following figures show--

The relation of this decrease of velocity to the mean distance is exactly determined by Kepler's Third Law, in which he states that the square of the periodic time is proportionate to the cube of the mean distance. That this is true has already been proved in Art. 28.

In conclusion on this point, let me ask the reader to try to conceive any other physical explanation for this decrease of orbital velocity as the mean distance is increased, than the one given here, namely, the decrease in the velocity and mass of the radiating and circulating Aether currents, and if such attempt is made, I premise that its only result will be utter failure. No other physical conception to account on a physical basis for all Kepler's Laws can be given or conceived, than that which finds its origin in the universal electro-magnetic Aether, which by its pressures, tensions and motions gives rise to all the phenomena incidental to, and associated with, planetary and stellar phenomena.

Therefore, inasmuch as all the laws of motion, and all Kepler's Laws can be accounted for by a gravitating and rotatory Aether medium, those facts alone, apart from the explanation of other phenomena associated with light and heat, would stamp the circulating Aether medium as the physical cause of all the motions and phenomena associated with the whole of the celestial mechanism.Art. 105. Orbital Motions of Satellites and Planets.--According to Kepler's First Law, the Earth and all the other planets move round the sun in orbits which are in the shape of an ellipse. Not only, however, is the first law true of planetary motion, it is equally true of the motions of all satellites moving round their primary planets. I wish, however, to point out, and prove in an indisputable manner, that Kepler's First Law does not sufficiently explain and determine the exact orbit of any satellite as it revolves around its primary planet, or even of any planet as it revolves around the sun.

Simply because, if any satellite or planet is to perform a perfect ellipse as it revolves around its central body, that central body must only move for a time and must then come to rest, or partly return in its journey in order for a perfect ellipse to be formed, as shown in a previous figure. Now we know from observation that such a thing as rest in space by any planet, or by the sun, is absolutely unknown in the celestial mechanism.

From Art. 92 we learned that the electro-magnetic Aether currents not only circulate round the sun, but they also circulate round each planet. Thus we found there were electro-magnetic Aether currents circulating round each planet, while those planets themselves were circled round the sun by the Aether currents generated by the sun; the planetary Aether currents in their turn propel the satellites round their primary planets. It can easily be seen, therefore, that such phenomena as rest and return of a planet in its journey are physical impossibilities, for either the circulating Aether currents would have to cease circulating, or would have to return upon themselves in some inconceivable manner.

Thus there is ever going on this conjoint motion, so to speak, of the sun's aetherial currents which circle all the planets round that body, and the planetary aetherial currents which circle all the satellites round their central body, and it is the effect of the conjoint working of these currents on the planets and satellites to which I wish to call the reader's attention.

Let us in starting represent the earth's orbit by a perfect ellipse A B C D, with the sun occupying one of the foci S (Fig. 27). We will suppose that the earth is at point A of its orbit and is being circled round the sun with uniform velocity. As it is circled round the sun by the sun's aetherial currents, at the same time its satellite the moon is being circled round the earth by the electro-magnetic Aether currents which circulate round that planet. We will represent the orbit of the moon by part of a smaller circle D E F, and suppose the moon to be at point D of that orbit. The mean distance of the moon from the earth is about 240,000 miles, so that the diameter of the orbit is 480,000 miles, therefore the circumference of the orbit is 480,000 × 3.1416, which gives us about 1,500,000 miles.

That distance is traversed in about 28 days, so that the moon's average velocity in its orbit, as it is circled or pushed round the earth, is about 2200 miles per hour. While, therefore, the moon is travelling 2200 miles, the earth in its journey round the sun has travelled about 64,800 miles in the same time. So that by the time the moon has travelled half its orbit, that is, from D to F, which would take about 14 days, the earth has also travelled in its orbit 64,800 × 24 × 14 = 21,772,800 miles, with the result, that instead of the moon arriving at point F, which it would do if the earth were stationary, it really arrives at a point about 21,772,800 miles in front of that point.

In a similar way, while the moon goes on to describe the other half of the orbit, the earth still proceeds on its journey, so that at the end of 14 days it is again 21,772,800 miles further on, with the result, that the centripetal force (by which the moon is attracted to the earth) keeps it at the distance of 240,000 miles according to Kepler's Second Law as explained in Art. 103.

The moon, therefore, completes its orbit about 21,772,800 miles further on than it would do if the earth were stationary. The effect of this continual progress of the earth on the moon's orbit as it describes its orbit round the sun is seen in the diagram. As the moon revolves round the earth thirteen times in one year, it performs thirteen revolutions round that planet; but it cannot be said that these orbits are perfect ellipses, as the earth is ever being circled round its central body, the sun. Even this diagram does not accurately represent the orbital motion of the moon through space, as it assumes that the earth returns to the same point in space from whence it started. This, however, is incorrect, as we have to remember that the sun has also an orbital velocity of 18,000 miles per hour, so that while the earth has performed one revolution in its orbit, the sun has actually progressed through space to the extent of 18,000 × 24 × 365 = 157,680,000 miles.

When we come to deal with the sun's motion through space, we shall see that this distance only represents a fraction of the sun's orbit, as it can be philosophically proved, that if the sun moves at all, it, too, obeys Kepler's Laws; and therefore, according to his First Law, it also describes and possesses an orbit of its own. So that by the time the earth has made its annual revolution round the sun, the whole system has been carried 157,680,000 miles through space, and therefore the earth does not complete a perfect ellipse, but its orbital motion round the sun will be represented by a similar kind of diagram to the one which represents the orbital motions of the moon, or any other satellite round its central body.Art. 106. Eccentricity of Orbit of Moon.--From astronomical observation we learn, that all the satellites and planets do not possess uniformity of motion, as they are carried round their controlling centres by the circulating aetherial currents, because the respective controlling centres themselves move through space. The result is, that the orbit of any satellite or planet is not always of the same size, but constantly varies, sometimes having a larger circumference than at other times, and sometimes a smaller circumference.

This change in the size of the orbit of a satellite or planet is known as the eccentricity of the orbit, which eccentricity is constantly changing, being sometimes greater and sometimes less. We will look at this truth in its relation to the moon first, and then consider the same principle in its relation to the earth and other planets later on. For the purpose of illustration, we will consider the earth as being circled round the sun by the electro-magnetic Aether currents in a closed orbit, A B C D, which forms a perfect ellipse, the sun occupying one of the foci S (Fig. 28), the earth occupying a position in the orbit represented by point C, with the moon being circled round the earth by that planet's aetherial currents. As we have already seen in Art. 103, according to Kepler's Second Law, at this point the earth is furthest from the sun, being now at a distance of 94-1/2 millions of miles, and therefore its orbital velocity will be slowest at that part of its orbit.

If it were absolutely at rest in space, and simply revolving on its own axis, then the result would be that the moon would be circled round the earth in an orbit M C F which is perfectly circular in form; but, as the earth is being carried along slowly through space by the circulating Aether currents, this onward movement changes the circular orbit into an orbit of elliptic form.

The eccentricity of the moon's orbit when the earth is at its aphelion, or furthest from the sun, is now at a minimum, for the simple reason that the earth is proceeding slowly through space, owing to the decreased kinetic energy of the aetherial currents at the increased distance.

So that, at this point of the earth's orbit, the difference between the two axes of the moon's orbit will be the least, and its orbit at that point will be the nearest approach to that of a circle. But, as we have already seen, as soon as the earth leaves this part of its orbit, and begins to get nearer to the sun, it passes into a part of the aetherial medium possessing greater kinetic energy, with the result that its own velocity is accelerated. Now what is the effect of this increased acceleration of the earth on the eccentricity of the orbit of the moon?

The earth's rotation on its axis remains unaltered during this increasing orbital velocity, consequently the aetherial currents generated by the earth will remain uniform, and the moon will still be circled round the earth in the same period of about 28 days. But while the time of the moon's revolution remains unaltered, the orbit that she has to describe is now increased owing to the increased orbital velocity of its central body, with the result, that by the time the earth gets to that part of its orbit represented by point D, it is then two millions of miles nearer to the sun than at point C, and will be circled round the sun by the aetherial currents at a much greater rate. Therefore, the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is increased just in proportion to the increased velocity of the earth in its orbit round the sun. By the time the earth has arrived at point A, when it is only a distance of about 91 millions of miles from the sun, it reaches the minimum distance, and is circled round at the decreased distance with its maximum velocity.

At this point, therefore, the eccentricity of the orbit of the moon will be at its greatest, and, if one revolution could be represented by an ellipse E G H, then that ellipse would be more elongated, and the difference between the two axes of the moon's orbit would be greater than at any other point of the earth's orbit.

Thus it can readily be seen that the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is primarily due to the different velocities of the central body, in this case the earth, as that body is carried round its central body, the sun. Where the earth's motion is slowest, there the eccentricity of the moon's orbit will be at a minimum; but where the earth's velocity is greatest, there the eccentricity of the moon's orbit will be at a maximum.

Between this minimum and maximum velocity of the earth in its orbit there is the constant increase or decrease in the eccentricity of the orbit of the moon; the eccentricity increasing as the orbital velocity of the central body increases, and decreasing as the orbital velocity of the earth decreases. A further fact has, however, to be taken into consideration, which is that the primary body about which the moon revolves is itself subject to the same eccentricity of its orbit, and for similar reasons, as we shall see later on. So that when the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is at its greatest, then the moon's orbit will possess its greatest possible eccentricity, and as the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is dependent upon the orbital velocity of the sun, so the greatest possible eccentricity of the moon's orbit is indirectly connected and associated with the sun's motion through space, which motion will now be considered.Art. 107. The Sun and Kepler's First Law.--We have learned in the previous articles that Kepler's Laws not only apply to planetary motion, but are equally applicable to the motion of all satellites as they revolve round their respective planets.

The question now confronts us, as to whether Kepler's Laws are equally true in their application to the sun? Now the sun is one of the host of stars that move in the vast infinity of space, and if it can be proved that Kepler's Laws hold good in relation to one star, as they do in relation to all planets and satellites, then such a result will have a most important bearing upon the motions of other stars, and we shall be able to determine with some degree of exactness what are the motions and orbits by which all the stars in the universe are governed.

Sir Wm. Herschel first attacked the question as to whether the sun, like all the other stars, was in motion, and if in motion, what was the shape of its orbit, and the laws which governed its orbital velocity.

We know that the sun is the centre of the solar system, and the question to be considered is, whether that system is circled round a controlling centre while the sun is at rest in space, simply possessing its one axial rotation, or whether, like every planet and satellite, it is subject to two motions, an axial rotation and an orbital velocity through space. Further, if it possesses an orbital velocity through space, what is the cause of that orbital velocity?

It was due to the genius of Sir Wm. Herschel to first solve this problem, and by careful research he was able to determine that the sun, with all its attendant planets, was indeed moving through space.

Not only did he discover this fact, but he also found out the direction in which the whole of our solar system was moving, as well as the velocity with which the general movement was performed. Herschel proved that the onward march of the solar system was in the direction of the constellation of Hercules, and that the velocity of the march of this system exceeds five miles per second, or 500,000 miles per day.

Thus we learn that the whole of our solar system, comprising the sun, with all its planets with their attendant satellites which circle round each planet, and the asteroids or minor planets, are bound together by the two forces, the centripetal and the centrifugal, while the system as a whole is urged on its way by some force or power through the realms of space.

What that power is we shall try to find out as we consider the application of Kepler's Laws to this onward movement of the sun. If, then, the sun is moving through space with this enormous velocity, the question arises as to what is the shape of the path or orbit which it describes? Sir Wm. Herschel attacked this question from a mathematical standpoint, and came to a certain conclusion, as we shall see. We will, however, attack the problem solely from the philosophical standpoint, by applying to it the Rules of Philosophy given in our first chapter, and we will then see whether our result is in harmony with the conclusions arrived at by Sir Wm. Herschel.

Now what has experience and observation to tell us regarding the orbit which any body moving in space assumes? Take, for example, our moon as illustrating the movement of all satellites, and our earth as illustrating all planetary motion.

What does observation teach us as to the orbits which these bodies describe? If it teaches us anything at all, it teaches us that every satellite and planet moves with varying velocity in a varying orbit around some central body. So far as our observation goes, then, in relation to planetary motion, or the motion of satellites, we learn that every body which moves in space fulfils Kepler's First Law, and describes an orbit round a central body, that body occupying one of the foci.

Thus, wherever we get any body moving in space, if there be any truth in philosophy which is based on experiment and observation, that body ought also to move in similar elliptic orbits, and be subject to exactly similar conditions governing those orbits. But we have learned that the sun moves through space with a velocity of about five miles per second, therefore it follows, philosophically, that the sun must also move around some other central body, and the path of such movement is that of an elliptic orbit, with the central body around which it moves occupying one of the foci.

In other words, the sun obeys the first of Kepler's Laws, the same as all the planets and satellites do. Suppose, for a moment, that it is denied that the sun moves in an elliptic orbit! What path would it pursue in place of that? Would the path be that of a straight line towards the constellation of Hercules? Such an assumption would be altogether unphilosophical, as it is contrary to all experience and observation, and is therefore untenable.

Before such an assumption can be made, it must be proved that every planet and satellite moves in a straight line, and not till that has been done can it be assumed that the sun moves in a straight line, or indeed in any other path than that stated in the first of Kepler's Laws.

This conclusion is in perfect harmony with the conclusion arrived at by Herschel, for in his work on Astronomy, in Arts. 292, 295 and 297, he points out that the sun's path is elliptic in form, and that Kepler also showed the sun fulfilled the first of his laws, and described an orbit which was in the shape of an ellipse. We have therefore philosophically arrived at the conclusion that the sun moves in an elliptic orbit, and to do so it must move round some central body, which is to the sun what the sun is to the planets, and what the planets are to the satellites.

It is impossible to conceive of the sun moving in an elliptic orbit, and yet not moving around some central body, as we should have a celestial phenomenon altogether opposed to all experience and observation. For we have already seen that the central body is just as important a factor to the elliptic orbit as the planet itself, because, without the central body there cannot possibly be any elliptic orbit. Where then in the universe is the central body around which the sun revolves? What is its distance away from the sun? What is its size? These are questions that philosophy alone cannot answer, as there is no law, so far as I can see, that regulates the size and distance of the central body in proportion to the size and distance of the planets or satellites.

If there were, then it would be possible for philosophy to apply such a law or rule. That there is a central body around which the sun revolves is as true as the fact that there is a central body about which each planet revolves, or each satellite revolves, and it remains for the practical astronomer, or the mathematician, to endeavour to discover the exact part of the heavens in which it is situated, and ascertain its distance and possibly its size. What will be the effect of the existence of this central body of the sun upon the solar system? One effect will be to do away with that isolation that up to the present has apparently existed with regard to our solar system and stellar space.

Instead of the solar system being a solitary system that moves through space subject to apparently no law, and moved by apparently no physical power, that system, through the influence and effect of the aetherial currents originated by that central body, will be linked to other parts of the universe, and will become a part of one harmonious whole, its physical connection being made manifest and plain in the self-same electro-magnetic Aether medium that forms the connecting medium between the satellites and planets, or the planets and the sun.

Another result will be, that as the sun is a star, we shall be able to apply the self-same principles and laws of Kepler to the stellar world in exactly the same way that we have done to the solar system. Thus, by bringing all stellar phenomena under the influence of Kepler's Laws, we shall be able to philosophically give an unity to the universe, and show, within rational limits, how such unity may be physically conceived, which result will be an advance upon any physical conception of the universe hitherto manifested or revealed. Further, by accepting the first of Kepler's Laws in relation to the sun, and admitting the existence of a central body, we shall be able then to apply the second of Kepler's Laws, and by so doing shall be able to give a physical explanation of two scientific facts which up to the present have never been physically explained, viz. the physical conception of the plane of the ecliptic, and a physical explanation of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, which is but the result of the application of Kepler's Second Law to the sun's orbital motion around its central body.Art. 108. The Sun and Kepler's Second Law.--We will now proceed to apply the second of Kepler's Laws to the orbital motion of the sun, and, in so doing, shall find we are able to give at the same time a physical explanation of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit.

In order to obtain a physical conception of the sun's orbital motion according to Kepler's First Law, it is essential that we should consider the effect of the existence of a central body around which the sun revolves; or, to put the matter into another form, we will ask the question as to what is the physical cause of the sun revolving round that central body?

Let us look at the case for a moment. Here, according to astronomical observation, we find a certain phenomenon which takes the form of a huge body 865,000 miles in diameter moving through space with a velocity of nearly 500,000 miles per day. What then is the physical cause of the movement of this large sphere?

Certainly there must be some physical cause, or else we have a violation of all experience, which indisputably teaches us that no body moves unless it is either pushed or pulled. We have, however, done away with a pulling power so far as the cause of the actual revolution of bodies around a central body is concerned, and in its place have substituted a medium that pushes or carries them round each central body. For over 200 years the scientific world has accepted a pulling power, that is, an attractive power, solely as the cause of the movements of celestial bodies, with the result that the physical cause of all the motions of planets and satellites has been outstanding and undiscovered.

It would, therefore, be unphilosophical to revert to the old conception of a gravitating attractive power as the sole cause of the sun's orbital motion through space. If we desire to know what is the cause of its revolution round that central body, then we must seek to find the same from the result of observation and experience in other directions.

We have learned from Art. 102 that the orbital motion of the moon is caused by the electro-magnetic Aether currents that circulate round its central body, the earth. By the same means every satellite is circled round its central body also. We have also learned from Art. 99 that the earth is carried round the sun by the circulating and rotating electro-magnetic Aether currents, and that these same currents also form the physical cause of the revolution of all the other planets round their central body, the sun.

Thus we arrive at the fact that wherever there is a body moving in space, it is moving solely because it is pushed along, or carried round its controlling centre by the rotating Aether currents. But we have just learned that the sun is moving through space, and that it describes an elliptic orbit around some central body in accordance with Kepler's First Law. So that the only philosophical conclusion that we can possibly arrive at in relation to the orbital motion of the sun is, that such motion is caused by similar electro-magnetic Aether currents whose circulating motion is partly caused by the rotation of that central body.

Thus we are led up to the philosophical conclusion, that it is the aetherial currents of the central body around which the sun revolves, that produce, and alone produce, the onward motion of the sun through space. Any other conclusion must be unphilosophical, and therefore untenable. We have, therefore, to conceive of the sun's central body generating and giving rise to electro-magnetic aetherial currents that extend through space to the limits at least of the solar system, and these aetherial currents, acting upon the sun's huge form by their kinetic energy, carry it with all its associated worlds through infinite space.

There is nothing extravagant in this conception, when we remember that the solar system has been moving on and on through infinite space year after year, and yet it never seems to get appreciably nearer to the other stars, but I hope to show the reason of this by strictly philosophical reasoning later on. With this conception of the sun in its relation to its central body we are now in a position to consider the application of Kepler's Second Law upon the sun's orbital motion, and its resultant effect upon the orbit of our earth and all the other planets.

From Kepler's Second Law we know that equal areas are described by the radius vector in equal times, and if the first law of Kepler is at all applicable to the sun, then it must follow that if the sun has an orbit, and moreover an elliptic orbit as stated by Kepler himself, then, as a natural result, the radius vector of the sun must move over equal areas in equal times.

The physical explanation of Kepler's Second Law was given in Art. 103, and there is no need to traverse the same ground again. It is, therefore, true that the sun moves faster in certain parts of its orbit than in others, being urged through space at its greatest velocity when it is nearest its controlling centre, and slowest when farthest away from that controlling centre.

Herschel, in his work on Astronomy, states: “The motion of the sun will be such that equal areas are thus swept over by the revolving radius vector in equal times in whatever part of the circumference of the ellipse the sun may be moving.” He, however, suggested that the earth forms a focus of the sun's ellipse, a suggestion which is unphilosophical, it seems to me, as we might equally suggest that the earth revolves round the moon, which is contrary to all observation. Thus the sun is not carried uniformly through space by the aetherial currents of its central body, because it is nearer to that central body at certain times; its velocity being regulated by its distance from that body, the same being increased as the distance is decreased, and decreased as the distance increases.

Now if this reasoning be correct, and if the sun really moves round a central body and is subject to Kepler's Second Law, then that increase and decrease of distance will be made manifest in the increase and decrease of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit.

So that if the eccentricity of the earth's orbit should vary from century to century, then we have conclusive evidence that the sun obeys the first and second of Kepler's Laws, and therefore that it revolves around a controlling centre of its own. From observation we find that this is exactly what is happening, and that at the present time the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is gradually diminishing, and in about 24,000 years the orbit will be very nearly a circle.

Now, from what was stated in Art. 106, we know that the moon's orbit will be nearly a circular orbit when the earth is farthest from the sun, and that then its orbital velocity is at a minimum.

In order for this result to be produced, the earth must reach that part of its orbit known as aphelion, where the distance from its controlling centre is greatest, so that the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is always an indication of the position of the earth in its relation to the sun. When the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is decreasing, the earth's distance from the sun is increasing, but when the eccentricity of the moon's orbit is increasing, then the earth's distance from the sun is decreasing.

Now if we apply this analogy to the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, we shall be able to obtain some idea of the relation of the sun to its central body. We find then that the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is decreasing, therefore, arguing from analogy, we arrive at the conclusion that the sun's distance from its controlling centre is increasing, and that its orbital velocity is decreasing.

If it be true that in 24,000 years the earth's orbit will be nearly circular, then it follows that in 24,000 years the sun will be at that part of its orbit corresponding to the aphelion of the orbit of the earth, that is, its distance from its controlling centre will then be at a maximum. After that the eccentricity of the earth's orbit will begin to increase, and will continue to increase for about 40,000 years, according to some scientists, which implies that the sun will then have started from its aphelion point, so to speak, and will begin its return journey towards its central body, gradually getting nearer and nearer. As it gets nearer its orbital velocity will be proportionately increased, with the result that the eccentricity of the earth's orbit will increase also. From a consideration of the movement of the major axis of the earth's orbit, which is moving forward at the rate of 11° per year, we are told that a whole revolution will be made in 108,000 years.

We have here, then, an indication of the time that the sun takes to revolve round its central body, because the time of the whole revolution of the eccentricity of the orbit should correspond with one complete revolution of the sun around its central body. So that from a consideration of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, we are not only able to demonstrate that the sun satisfactorily fulfils the first and second of Kepler's Laws, but, conversely, we are able to give a satisfactory physical explanation of the cause of the eccentricity of the earth's orbit, which explanation is again primarily to be found in the universal Aether medium.Art. 109. Plane of the Ecliptic and Zodiacal Light.--As already pointed out, another phenomenon which can be physically accounted for by the sun's orbital motion through space around its central body, is that celestial plane known as the Plane of the Ecliptic.

What then is the Plane of the Ecliptic whose physical explanation we are to attempt? We know that the moon revolves round the earth as the earth revolves round the sun, while the sun is pursuing its way through space. It has been found also, that all these motions of these different bodies take place on one level, so to speak; that is to say, they do not go up or down in space, but straight on.

So straight do they move, that their path has been likened to the level of the ocean, on which a ship may sail for thousands of miles, always keeping the same level and even course. On some such ocean as this in space all the planetary systems and solar systems seem to move, ever moving on and on with the same uniformity of level through infinite space. Further, this plane of the ecliptic is to the celestial sphere what the sea-level is to the earth. The height of a mountain on the earth is stated to be so much above the sea-level.

In a similar way astronomers say that a star is a certain height above the plane of the ecliptic. What then is the physical explanation of this scientific term? We will lead up to it by first considering the effect that rotation has upon a liquid body.

It has been demonstrated that if a mass of oil is placed in a transparent liquid of the same density, so long as the oil is perfectly at rest, its shape will be that of a sphere which will float about in the liquid, but as soon as the oil is made to rotate by means of a piece of wire, then the spherical shape is changed into that of an oblate spheroid.

Further, the faster it is made to rotate, the more it will bulge out, so that its equatorial diameter will greatly exceed its polar diameter. The same principle may be illustrated by making a hoop to revolve rapidly on its axis, when a similar effect of bulging out will be produced.

Now let us apply this principle to the earth with its electro-magnetic Aether currents circulating round it, and ask what is the effect of the rotation first upon the earth, and then upon the rotating Aether currents?

It is a matter of common knowledge that the effect of rotation upon the earth when it was in a fluid state was to make its equatorial parts bulge out as it rotated, with the result that as it solidified the equatorial diameter exceeded the polar diameter by 26 miles.

If, therefore, the result of rotation upon the earth when in its fluid state was to make it spread out greater in the equatorial regions than in any other part of its surface, what must be the effect of a similar rotation upon the rotatory Aether currents? It can easily be seen that the rotation of these currents will be to make them spread out into space in a region which corresponds to the equatorial regions of the earth, so that the rotating Aether currents will be congregated more in the equatorial regions of the earth than in any other part of the earth's surface. The further also they extend into space the less depth they will have, gradually tapering off, as shown in the illustration, where E represents the earth and B C the Aether currents (Fig. 29).

Any body, therefore, situated within the sphere of their influence would be carried round the earth by the currents, and the currents would be to them their governing and controlling level.

So that the moon, which is held bound to the earth by the two opposite and equal forces, would always be carried around the earth by those electro-magnetic Aether currents, and outside of those currents it could not pass. But the earth is only 8000 miles in diameter, therefore if the currents gradually tapered off as suggested, by the time the aetherial currents reached the distance of the moon, their depth would not exceed 2000 or 3000 miles.

The diameter of the moon is, however, only 2160 miles, so that the rotating Aether currents would practically form an ocean in which the moon would swim, and one constant level on which it revolves in space. Wherever the earth was carried by the aetherial currents of the sun, there the aetherial currents of the earth would carry the moon, its mean distance by the conjoint working of the two co-equal forces having been permanently fixed.

So that it can be readily seen, as regards the moon, that the earth's aetherial currents form the plane on which it revolves around the earth. Now in exactly the same way it can be proved that it is the sun's aetherial currents which form the plane or level on which all the planets revolve or are carried around their central body. We have only to enlarge our conception and the same result follows. Instead of dealing with a body 8000 miles in diameter, we are now dealing with a body 865,000 miles in diameter, and as this huge body is more or less in an incandescent state, the aetherial currents will therefore be proportionate in intensity and flow to its size and atomic activity.

Instead, therefore, of the aetherial currents which circulate round the sun only extending a quarter of a million of miles, their energy and flow extend far away into space, even beyond the greatest distance of Neptune, a distance of 2,800,000,000 miles. The same truths apply here, however, as in the case of the earth and the moon. The aetherial currents which circulate round the sun congregate together, and possess their greatest depth nearest to the equator, while the further away they recede, the less and less depth they possess, with a decreased intensity and decreased kinetic energy. These Aether currents will be to all the planets, therefore, what the earth's aetherial currents will be to the moon, being to them the ocean level on which they alone can move, and by which they are carried round their central body.

Thus these currents will form for all the planets the level in infinite space upon which they float, and from which they cannot pass. Let us further consider the movements of these currents in space, and we shall find further confirmation of this fact by so doing. Astronomers tell us that it takes light about three and a half years to reach us from the nearest star. By calculation, therefore, we find that the nearest star to our system is about 205,000,000,000,000 miles away, that being about the distance that light travels in three and a half years.

The diameter of the sun is about 865,000 miles, so that the distance of the nearest star is 240,000,000 times the diameter of the sun. We could therefore put 240,000,000 of our solar systems in the space that exists between us and the nearest star. How is it, then, that all the planets as they revolve round the sun do not float up and down in the space that extends between us and the nearest star?

I can give no other answer, and can see no other possible physical explanation than the one already given, which is, that they are bound to the sun by the two co-equal forces, the centrifugal and centripetal forces, and while so bound are carried round the sun by the electro-magnetic aetherial currents which extend out into space. It has to be remembered that the aetherial electro-magnetic currents circulating round the earth are situated within the aetherial currents which circulate round the sun, therefore the plane of the moon's orbit will coincide more or less with the plane of the earth's orbit. We have now only to go one step further to get our complete conception of the plane of the ecliptic.

In Arts. 107 and 108 we learned that the sun was subject to Kepler's 1st and 2nd laws, and as a natural result we came to the conclusion that it, too, was circled round some central body. We have only to apply a similar course of reasoning to the sun and its central body as we have to the moon and the earth, and the earth and the sun, and then we arrive at our physical conception of the plane of the ecliptic, which is due to the aetherial currents that circle round the sun, while that body is carried round some other central body.

Thus by the circulating Aether currents, originated and outflowing from their respective sources, each source being immutably fixed and bound to each other by the two equal and complementary forces, can be accounted for, the uniformity of position and plane of the various orbits of the various satellites, planets, and the sun, as they move in one great plane, termed the Plane of the Ecliptic.

It could not be otherwise than it is, and thus another celestial phenomenon can be accounted for on a real tangible basis by accepting the existence of those aetherial currents which form the physical basis of all the celestial mechanism.

If further evidence were required of the existence of these rotating Aether currents round the sun, such evidence is found in that phenomenon of the solar system known as the Zodiacal Light, of which up to the present no physical explanation has been forthcoming. In the conception of the atomic and gravitating Aether which rotates round the sun, I venture to premise will be found the physical solution of this phenomenon also.

I will refer the reader to an extract taken out of Outlines of Astronomy, by Herschel (Art. 894), so that we may see what his conception of the zodiacal light was, and we will see how far his explanation is in conformity with our hypothesis of an atomic, gravitating and rotatory Aether medium.

He writes: “We shall conclude this chapter by the mention of two phenomena, which to me indicate the existence of some slight degree of nebulosity about the sun itself, and even to place it in the list of nebulous stars. The first is that called the Zodiacal Light, which may be seen any very clear evening soon after sunset, about the months of March, April and May, as a cone or lenticularly-shaped light extending from the horizon obliquely upwards, and following generally the course of the ecliptic, or rather that of the sun's equator. The apparent angular distance of its vertex from the sun varies, according to circumstances, from 40° to 90°, and the breadth of its base perpendicular to its axis from 8° to 30°. It is extremely faint and ill-defined, at least in this climate, though better seen in tropical regions, but cannot be mistaken for any atmospheric meteor or aurora borealis. It is manifestly in the nature of a lenticularly-formed envelope surrounding the sun, and extending beyond the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and nearly, perhaps quite, attaining that of the earth, since its vertex has been seen fully 90° from the sun's place in a great circle. It may be conjectured to be no other than the denser part of that medium which we have some reason to believe resists the motions of comets; loaded perhaps with the actual materials of the tails of millions of those bodies of which they have been stripped in their successive perihelion passage. If its particles have inertia, they must necessarily stand with respect to the sun in the relation of separate and independent minute planets, each having its own orbit, plane of motion, and periodic time.”

Let me call the reader's special attention to one or two statements of Herschel's given in this extract, in order to see how these statements harmonize with the view of the Aether submitted in this work. In the first place he states its shape is that of a lenticularly-formed envelope surrounding the sun, and extending beyond the orbits of Mercury and Venus, and probably to our earth. This harmonizes with the shape of the aetherial envelope as given in Art. 70. Then Herschel states it may be the denser part of that medium which we have reason to believe resists the motions of comets. That is exactly what it is, though Herschel failed to show why it should be the denser part of the Aether, as we have seen is the case, on account of its being gravitative. I will also prove later on, that Herschel was right with regard to the resistance of the motion of comets through it. Then he refers to its particles probably possessing inertia, as though he had anticipated the atomicity of the Aether, and assuming that atomicity, he was compelled to postulate inertia also as we have done in Art. 48.

Lastly, he points out that each separate particle must have its own plane of motion, its own orbit, and its periodic time. Now this view fully coincides with that laid down in this article, where we have learned that the rotating Aether has its own plane of motion, that plane being the Plane of the Ecliptic, and as every particle or atom has its allotted place in the rotating Aether, then, as Herschel points out, the particle must have its own orbit, and plane of motion, and also its own periodic time. If, therefore, we had desired fuller confirmation of this atomic gravitating Aether, we could not have wished for more conclusive proof than that given by one of the greatest philosophical astronomers of the last century. We shall see later that Herschel also had a clearer view of cometary phenomena, and of the forces which played a part in those phenomena, than any of his contemporaries, when we deal with the origin and motions of all comets. Thus from Herschel we learn that the zodiacal light is caused by the atomic, gravitating, and rotatory Aether as that aetherial medium revolves round the sun, while at the same time every atom of the medium is itself in a state of rotation on its axis, as it performs its journey in its own orbit and in its own plane of motion.Art. 110. Centripetal Force.--We have now to consider what is the physical cause of that part of the compound Law of Gravitation known as the Centripetal Force. As we have already learned (Art. 10), this force is really none other than the Attractive Force of Gravitation, in that its mode of operation always acts towards the centre of the attracting body, and hence was called by Newton the Centripetal Force.

The centripetal force is, however, the exact counterpart and complement of the centrifugal force, in the same way that the latter is the exact counterpart of the former, as we have already learned that the centrifugal force operates along the same path, and that it is subject to the same law of proportion, being equal to the product of the masses of a body (Art. 85), and further, that its intensity is inversely as the square of the distance (Arts. 66, 74 and 84).

We have, however, discovered that the physical cause of the centrifugal force is due to the pressure of the electro-magnetic Aether (Art. 96). If, therefore, the physical cause of that law which is the complement and counterpart of Gravitation Attraction is to be found, and alone found, in the pressure and motions of the electro-magnetic Aether, then it is only logical and reasonable to infer that the physical cause of the Attraction of Gravitation is to be found in the same electro-magnetic Aether. That the Attraction of Gravitation is to be found in this medium is now an accepted hypothesis among scientists. Because, unless the physical cause of Gravitation Attraction is to be found in this electro-magnetic Aether, then, in order to account for that attraction, we should have to postulate the existence of another medium in space, in lieu of the Aether, which would be to the centripetal force what the Aether is to the centrifugal force. This would be distinctly unphilosophical, as it would be a violation of the first two rules of our philosophy, in that it would not be simple in its conception, and that such a hypothesis would imply the existence of two media which would occupy the same planetary and interstellar space at one and the same time, and this is a violation of all experience in its widest form.

Therefore the physical cause of Gravitation must be sought for in the same medium which gives the physical cause of the companion force, and that medium is the electro-magnetic Aether. Professor Preston in his Theory of Light is of this opinion. In Art. 327 he writes: “To account for the propagation of heat and light, that is, of radiant energy, we have postulated the existence of a medium filling all space. But the transference of the energy of radiant heat and light is not the only evidence we have in favour of the existence of an Aether. Electric, magnetic and electro-magnetic phenomena and Gravitation itself point in the same direction.”

Professor Lodge, in his Modern Views of Electricity, is even more explicit in his statement of the case. On page 338 he states: “Gravitation is explainable by differences of pressure in the medium (i. e. the Aether) caused by some action between it and matter not yet understood.” Further, Newton himself suggested that the physical cause of Gravitation Attraction was to be found in that aetherial medium which pervaded all space.

If, therefore, we attempt to explain the physical cause of Gravitation Attraction by the tensions of the universal Aether, we shall not only be dealing with the subject from a philosophical standpoint, but we shall solve the problem in that direction in which Professors Preston and Lodge and other scientists have suggested we are to seek for the solution. Professor Curry, in his Theory of Electricity and Magnetism, page 406, states: “If we regard the luminiferous Aether, as defined by Von Helmholtz's equations, as the given medium or transmitter of so-called gravitating action, we are then able on the one hand to interpret its longitudinal oscillations as gravitational waves propagated through space with the given enormous velocity, and on the other hand, to form some conception of the mysterious force of Gravitation itself, for we can then conceive it as a medium stress arising from a certain type of Aether oscillations, its longitudinal ones, that pervade entire space.”

Now in order for us to lead up to the physical cause of the centripetal force, we must recall some of the facts already given with regard to planetary and solar space. Thus we have learned that the sun is an electro-magnet possessing its own magnetic field, with its lines of force (Art. 88). We have also learned that all the planets are electro-magnets, each possessing its own field with its lines of force (Art. 91).

We have further seen that the cause of all this electro-magnetism is due to the fact that electric currents are continually circulating round each body, and by their conjoint action with the magnets there are produced the electro-magnetic fields that are associated with each body in the solar system. From this hypothesis we arrived at the conclusion, that wherever there was Aether, there we found electricity, because of the electro-magnetic basis which Aether possesses. This result is fully confirmed by Maxwell's electro-magnetic theory of light (Art. 78), which has been so fully experimentally demonstrated by Hertz. Indeed, in the minds of several scientists there is a growing conviction that Aether and Electricity are possibly one and the same substance.

Professor Lodge, in the work already referred to, in relation to this hypothesis, writes in the preface to that book: “Crudely, one may say that as heat is a form of energy, so electricity is a form of Aether, or a mode of aetherial manifestation.” And again: “A rough and crude statement adapted for popular use is that Electricity and Aether are identical. But that is not all that has to be said, for there are two opposite kinds of electricities, and there are not two Aethers. But there may be two aspects of one Aether, just as there are two sides to a sheet of paper.”

As, therefore, we learn that Aether has an electro-magnetic basis, and that electricity is a mode of aetherial manifestation, we have therefore to consider one of the most fundamental laws of electricity, and note its application to solar and planetary space.

It is one of the fundamental laws of electricity, that equal and opposite quantities of electricity are always generated at one and the same time. Faraday's well-known ice-pail experiment proved this. It is an absolute impossibility for one kind of electricity to be generated without an equal quantity of the opposite kind being produced, although it is not strictly correct to use the term generated or produced in relation to electricity, as electricity cannot really be produced by any process whatever.

Another way of stating this law is, that the total induced charge on any body is always equal and opposite to the inducing charge. So that if we look upon the sun as an electrified body (Art. 80) surrounded by the aetherial envelopes or shells, then we can conceive of the inductive action of the sun upon any planet as taking place along the tubes of force in the Aether, which tubes are sections of the spherical envelopes that surround it. But this inductive action implies the existence of the very law already enunciated, viz. that equal and opposite quantities are always generated at one and the same time, and before that law can become operative in relation to the Aether, it must be postulated that the Aether possesses a dual character, that is, it possesses a positive and negative electrical basis.

This view of the Aether has already been developed by Dr. Larmor in his Electron Basis of the Aether, as in that hypothesis he postulates both positive and negative electrons. In his Aether and Matter he writes, page 3: “It assumes that the mass of each sub-atom is proportional to the absolute number of electrons, positive and negative, that it carries, and that the effective interatomic forces are entirely or mainly electric.” Further, Professor Lodge on this point writes:[39] “We now proceed a step further and analyze the Aether into two constituents, two equal opposite constituents, each endowed with inertia and each connected to the Aether by elastic ties. The two constituents are called positive and negative electricity respectively, and of these two electricities we imagine the Aether to be composed.” Again, later on, p. 349 of the same work, he adds: “Is Aether electricity then? I do not say so, but that they are connected there can be no doubt. What I have to suggest is, that positive, and negative electricity together may make up the Aether.”

Now, accepting this as correct, and I will prove that it is correct later on, from experiments performed by Faraday, we can see how the inductive action of the sun may be transmitted through space, and how that inductive action will effect any body in its electrical field, such inductive action always taking place through the polarization of the atomic Aether, and taking the form of an attractive power which is exerted towards the centre of the attracting body.

Further, this inductive action will be subject to the same laws of electricity as the centrifugal force is, which is the repulsive power due to the pressure of the Aether. Therefore the inductive action of the sun upon any body will, according to the laws of electricity, act inversely as the square of the distance (Art. 84), and will be directly as the product of the charges on the two attracting bodies, which we have seen according to Art. 85 is equal to the product of their masses. Not only will this inductive action apply to the sun, but it will equally apply to all planets, satellites and stars that exist in the heavens, each of these bodies according to Art. 80 being an electrified body possessing its electric field and lines of force radiating out into space.

Thus we arrive at the conclusion, that each body in the solar system is not only the centre of a centrifugal force due to the pressure of the electro-magnetic Aether, but that it is also the centre of an attractive force due to the existence of the positive and negative elements of the Aether, and of their attractive power for each other.

This attractive power is also subject to exactly the same laws that the centrifugal force is subject to in regard to intensity, proportion, and the direction which it takes. So that we have now two centripetal forces existing in space, which exactly correspond with each other, viz. Gravitation Attraction and the attraction due to Electrical Induction. The cause of one, however, is known, being due to the inductive influence of the various electrified bodies that exist in space, which inductive influence can be traced through the whole of the atomic Aether that exists between the two bodies, whereas the cause of the centripetal force or Gravitation Attraction is unknown. According to the Rules of Philosophy, therefore, it will be much simpler if we replace our Gravitation Attraction, whose cause is unknown, by the inductive power of the various bodies, the physical cause of which lies in the electro-magnetic Aether, or the dielectric as Faraday called it. In other words, we are compelled to come to the conclusion that the centripetal force, or Gravitation Attraction so called, is an electrical phenomenon, which finds its physical cause in the same universal Aether that the centrifugal force does.

Unless this view of the attraction of Gravitation is accepted, we should have two forces operating between all bodies, both operating at exactly the same time, in exactly the same direction, and with exactly the same intensity, and this phenomenon according to Newton would be unphilosophical. In Art. 4 we learn that Newton in the first rule states that “Nature is simple, and does not abound in superfluous causes of things.” And again: “In the nature of Philosophy nothing is done in vain; and by means of many things, it is done in vain when it can be done by fewer.” Here then we have apparently two forces which act in the same molecular or planetary or interstellar space, at one and the same time. Therefore if this be true, Nature does abound in a superfluous cause, because we have two forces in existence where one will suffice, and one of them therefore exists in vain. So that it will be philosophical if we do away with one of the causes, and replace the two causes by only one. Now which shall be done away with--the electrical attraction which is due to a physical medium, the electro-magnetic Aether, or the Gravitation Attraction, that is caused by some virtue of a body of which we have no knowledge, which is transmitted through space in a way that we cannot understand, and acts upon distant bodies in a manner altogether outside our usual experience and observation? There can only be one answer. If either of the two forces has to be done away with, it must be the mysterious, intangible, unphilosophical attraction of Gravitation, which must be replaced by the philosophical and known attraction of electricity, which can be traced to a physical medium, the electro-magnetic Aether that joins atom to atom, molecule to molecule, satellite to planet, planet to sun, and sun to star, and so gives unity to the universe of worlds. From philosophical considerations, therefore, we are compelled to come to the conclusion that the attraction of gravity and electrical attraction are one and the same.

Faraday arrived at this conclusion and performed certain experiments to confirm that conclusion, but he was unable to experimentally prove the truth. It does not follow, however, that because he failed to experimentally establish the connection, therefore the conclusion is wrong. In his Experimental Researches he writes, par. 2705, “On the possible relation of gravity to electricity”:--“First of all, a body which was to be allowed to fall, was surrounded by a helix, and then its effect in falling sought for.” This experiment Faraday states produced negative results (par. 2706). “A solid cylinder of copper was introduced into the helix, and carefully fastened to it, and this compound arrangement was allowed to fall.” “The result of this experiment may be classified as doubtful. It gave very minute, but remarkable indications of a current in the galvanometer, and the probability of these being related to gravity appeared the greater, when it was found, in raising the helix or core, similar indications of contrary currents appeared.” In par. 2717 Faraday thus sums up: “Here end my trials for the present. The results are negative. They do not shake my strong feeling of the existence of a relation between gravity and electricity, though they give no proof that such a relation exists.” Here then we have expressed the strong conviction of the relation that undoubtedly exists between gravity and electricity by one of the greatest scientists that has ever lived, and I believe that it is a fact that he was engaged upon experiments to prove his conviction about the time of his death.

We will now endeavour to trace the action of the Law of Gravitation in its compound working, in its application to the atomic Aether that fills all space, and by its gravitating property surrounds all bodies situated in that space. We are dealing no longer with a frictionless medium, which is incapable of accepting and transmitting motion of any kind or sort, but we are now dealing with a medium composed of atoms, which can give rise to pressures and tensions, or repulsions and attractions from any one part of space to another.

If we can prove that an atomic Aether can give rise to these pressures and tensions from one body to another, and those pressures and tensions harmonize with, and satisfactorily account for, the phenomena sought to be explained, then we shall have succeeded in making our philosophy agree with our experience, and such a result as action at a distance will for ever disappear from the mental conception of all men, as it has long disappeared from the pages of philosophical and scientific works, though that disappearance was not accompanied with a satisfactory solution of the problem.

Let us, therefore, consider these pressures and tensions, or so-called repulsions and attractions that exist in this electro-magnetic Aether from the atomic standpoint, and by so doing try to realize how it is that one body, as the sun, acts upon another body, as the earth, through the intervening medium, the Aether. We can either consider it from the material standpoint, that is, by considering the Aether as matter, pure and simple, or by viewing it from the electrical standpoint, which may be considered from Clerk Maxwell's physical conception of an electric field. We will briefly consider it from the latter standpoint. Our conception of an aetherial atom was that of a spherical vortex atom possessing polarity and rotation on an axis. We must, however, make the distinction between the two kinds of aetherial atoms that Clerk Maxwell first indicated in his paper on Physical Lines of Force, Phil. Mag., 1861, and that Dr. Larmor has worked out in his Aether and Matter from the electron standpoint, viz. that the Aether is composed of positive and negative electrons. Or we can accept Professor Lodge's theory, that Aether is made up of positive and negative electricity. We are compelled to accept the hypothesis of two kinds of aetherial or electrical atoms, whatever they may be called, in view of the teaching of electricity, that positive and negative electricity are always to be found in association, and in combination, wherever electricity exists. We have proved that electricity is to be found throughout the realm of space (Art. 78); therefore in all planetary and stellar regions electricity is present. Thus it exists in the so-called space between the sun and planets, and between the planets and satellites, forming around them all spherical shells, that become less and less dense as they recede from the central body. Now it is by the action of these positive and negative electrical atoms, that the attraction of one body is transmitted across space from the sun to the earth, or from the earth to the sun, or from the earth to Jupiter, or from Jupiter to any of the planets, the action always taking place along the line joining the centres of gravity of the bodies, i. e. the radius vector, and with a force equal to the quantities of electricity in association with those bodies (Art. 85), and with an intensity that always acts inversely as the square of the distance. Thus the inductive action of any sun, planet or satellite, or any other planet or satellite, can be mentally traced from atom to atom, across the intervening space, that is filled with the atomic Aether, between any two attracting bodies. So that, if the sun attracts the earth, it attracts it by and through the motions and properties of the electro-magnetic Aether that is made up of positive and negative electricity, and that attraction, being produced by a physical medium which is as real and tangible as air or water, is brought into harmony with our experience and observation, as no body pushes or pulls another body, be it what it may, unless both bodies are joined together by some medium which transmits the push or the pull. Professor Lodge, in his Modern Views of Electricity, has illustrated from an electrical standpoint how the pressure and tension in any electrical field may be transmitted from particle to particle, or atom to atom. He supposes that a positive atom of electricity rotates in one direction while a negative atom rotates in the opposite direction. In any electric field these atoms are so associated with each other, that when one atom revolves, it makes the other to revolve in the opposite direction, with the result, that the spin or rotation is transmitted through the medium at a speed dependent upon the density of the medium.

For fuller details of the description I must refer the reader to the work already referred to. What I wish to call the reader's attention to is, that the tension and pressure in this field is not transmitted across a vacuum, in some unknown way, but is transmitted solely by a physical medium. The action is direct, and is produced, and alone produced, continued, and perpetuated by a physical medium which is composed of atoms of negative and positive electricity. So that if one body A acts upon another body B, it acts upon B solely and entirely by the action of the atoms which form the magnetic lines of force, and the equipotential surfaces around the electrified body, and that action can be traced mentally step by step across the intervening space that may exist between the two bodies. It is in an exactly similar manner, that the Attraction of Gravitation, which we conceive to be the same as electrical attraction, is transmitted from body to body in the atomic, molecular, planetary or stellar world. In each and every case, the pressure and tensions, which are inseparably connected, are transmitted by the atoms of the electro-magnetic Aether, that is, by the positive and negative atoms of electricity of which, according to Professor Lodge and Dr. Larmor, the Aether is composed. So that, if the sun acts on the earth, by the centrifugal force, it acts on it solely through and by the pressures which are originated in the atomic Aether by the central body. If the sun attracts the earth, by the centripetal force, that action can also be traced to the tensions that are originated among the atoms of the electro-magnetic Aether. There is nothing mysterious about the phenomenon in either case, as by accepting this view of an atomic Aether with its dual character of positive and negative electricity, the action may be traced mentally from point to point across the so-called intervening space that exists between any two bodies. In each and every case, wherever the centripetal or centrifugal force acts, the action is direct, because it is caused by a physical medium, which physical medium is in direct contact with each body acted upon, and also fills the space between those bodies. With this view of the centripetal force of Gravitation, our Philosophy is made to agree definitely with our experience, which teaches us beyond contradiction, that no body moves, unless it is either pushed or pulled by a physical medium. Unless this view of the centripetal force is accepted, we shall have to stumble on in darkness as to the physical cause of the centripetal force, and mentally accept the unphilosophical proposition, that a body can act on another in a way that we cannot understand, and by means which lie outside our experience and observation, and this hypothesis, as Newton and Herschel pointed out, is distinctly an unphilosophical proposition.