AETHER AND KEPLER'S LAWS
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).
[Illustration: Fig: 24.]
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).
[Illustration: 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.
[Illustration: Fig: 26.]
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--
MEAN DISTANCE. PERIOD OF ORBITAL VELOCITY
REVOLUTION. PER HOUR.
Jupiter 482 millions 4,332 days 28,000 miles
Saturn 884 " 10,759 " 21,600 "
Uranus 1,780 " 30,687 " 1,800 "
Neptune 2,780 " 60.127 " 900 "
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.
[Illustration: Fig: 27.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig: 28.]
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.
[Illustration: Fig: 29.]
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:[40] "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.
[Footnote 40: _Modern Views of Electricity_, p. 221.]