Samuel Tolver Preston

“ It forms a truly wonderful fact to consider, that a system of bodies or particles left to themselves, with nothing to guide them but their own collisions (which might well be regarded as fulfilling all the essentials of a chaos) , produces and maintains the most rigid system of order, such that the number of particles contained in unit volume of the system (taken anywhere) is equal, the mean velocity equal in all parts, the mean distance of the particles the same in all parts, and the particles are moving uniformly towards all directions in all parts. ”

“ Evidently there exists just as little an obstacle in space to smallness of size as to any given velocity of motion, and there are reasons for supposing that gravity must propagate itself with great velocity. Precisely because the normal velocity of the atoms is great, the material concerned in producing gravity can be very limited in quantity, and notwithstanding that exert a very considerable pressure. ”

“ It must be evident that under a dynamical theory of gravitation, when a mass is lifted, the energy expended in lifting cannot be converted into "potential" energy, but must be converted into kinetic energy, in imparting motion to the particles impinging upon the upper side of the mass, and which tend to urge it downwards. Conversely, when the mass falls, kinetic energy is transferred from the particles of the medium to the mass. As a general principle, therefore, by the abandonment of the theory of "action at a distance" there can be no such entity as "potential " energy at all. ”

“ If one only accepts as valid the two principles of the conservation of energy and of the centre of mass, then one must attribute elasticity as well to the aether as to gas molecules, without being troubled about the further explanation of its nature. ”

“ Surely no more rigid, constant and unalterable cause could be conceived of than that of the normal motion of the particles of a medium among themselves, which, by an inevitable automatic adjustment arrange their motions so as to produce the effects of gravity. ”

“ It would not appear that matter in the gaseous state could ever be exploded by pressure (so long as the gaseous state was retained) ; for the molecules of gases cannot be pressed against each other by any amount of pressure, since, the molecules being in free translatory motion among themselves, the only effect of pressure would evidently be to put a greater number of molecules into unit of volume, without thereby causing the molecules in their encounters to approach nearer to each other than before. ”

“ The agent producing gravity must therefore not in any way be looked at (as one might possibly be liable to do at first sight) as representing a prodigious quantity of streams of gross matter flying about, but simply as the quiet imperceptible motion of a relatively very small quantity of excessively finely subdivided matter which produces a perfectly uniform pressure, the energy of each particle by itself being totally imperceptible ”

“ In conclusion, it cannot fail, I think, to be apparent (as an important fact) to an impartial observer, that a movement in accordance with the kinetic theory is the only possible (or conceivable) motion that can naturally maintain itself among particles of matter left to themselves in free space (if we refrain from attributing to matter occult and mystical qualities, which only involve every thing in obscurity) . ”

“ Our objection to uncommonly great or uncommonly small numbers rests in fact upon custom, and regularly disappears as soon as the theory in question has further introduced itself.
There exists in space field enough, when necessary, for finer material, as our conceptions are not limited in the direction of smallness, and the smaller the particles, the quicker is their natural speed of motion, and the more intense the enclosed store of concealed energy: also the whole arrangement becomes all the less appreciable by our senses. ”

“ The old postulate of perfectly rigid molecules put a difficulty in the way of assuming that the molecules of a solid are in contact, because the "elasticity" (or compressibility within certain limits) of a solid could scarcely be reconciled with this postulate of perfectly rigid molecules, the dynamical theory of molecules put forward by Sir William Thomson, which explains the elasticity of a molecule by a simple motion of the matter forming it, enables us to explain the elasticity of a solid (with molecules in actual contact) by the elasticity of the molecules themselves. ”

“ A locomotive, as we know, converts all its energy into heat (which is radiated into the aether) as it progresses with its train: so clearly we have the cyclical process of exchange of motion again here: the same being true of work ierived from falling water (cataracts) or from winds. If, finally, one pure speculation be permitted, we might suggest that overgrown stars may, towards their centres, become from excessive compression inadequately penetrable by the atoms of the aethereal gas, and so the overgrown masses be broken up by conversion of the aethereal motion into heat. ”

“ How can one imagine to oneself a structure composed of perfectly hard molecules situated far apart which shall have only tolerable stiffness and stability? Such a body made up of widely separated spherical molecules, if no other forces but gravity acted, could at the most behave like a gas, but never as a solid or liquid body.
On the other hand, elastic molecules of open structure may be made to cohere at their boundaries by the pressure of the smaller atoms, which at the .same time easily fly through the open parts of the structure. ”

“ The author of this theory makes no mention of my theory, and it doubtless escaped his attention at that time. The gravitation theory of Dr. Isenkrahe is founded on inelastic collision, which obviously involves the annihilation of energy, whereby the gas producing gravity would, after a certain (even very long) epoch, come to rest, and so gravitation cease to exist.
In a plausible enough way (at first sight at least) the author despises elasticity as a qualitas occulta, which, as he thinks, needs an explanation just as much as gravity itself. ”

“ Accordingly, as by a given amount of energy in unit volume the energy of each particle is inversely as their number, so by multiplying the particles the energy of each may be made indefinitely small; and therefore the energy transferred to the molecules of matter would be made indefinitely small, or there would be no measurable rise of temperature at all. ”

“ It is necessary to assume that the particles producing gravity are in very close proximity compared with molecules, otherwise the particles would be unable by their motion to produce a perfectly equable pressure upon the molecules of matter. ”

“ So, therefore, disappear the almost contradictory properties, "ponderable" and "imponderable," which have been arbitrarily attributed to matter: and we have therefore no reason for believing that the atoms diffused in space differ essentially from gross molecules, excepting in their dimensions. To the abandonment of the idea of two inherently different kinds of matter, the abandonment of two supposed different kinds of energy is analogous — viz., energy with motion, and energy without motion. Accordingly there would remain only one kind of energy, namely, that which a moving body possesses. ”

“ Hence it follows that when a system of atoms is left to itself, it will, by the principles of dynamics, automatically adjust the character of its motion in such a way that this motion is adapted to produce the gravitation effects. The motion of streams of atoms equally at all angles, which Le Sage gave forth as an arbitrary postulate, is attainable in a gas without any postulate. Instead of streams, each of which for itself maintains a constant direction of motion, and which cease to flow after a long epoch of time, we have a permanent motion of atoms correcting itself in a self-acting manner ”

“ Again, the perfectly free passage of light or the waves of aether through a piece of glass, or a wave of obscure heat through a block of rock-salt, also of the magnetic disturbance through all matter, would by itself prove the extremely open structure of matter. ”

“ Evidently, if chemical action be caused by a material medium, then an animal or a steam-engine lifting a weight is an instance (again) of motion coming from a material substance, and going back to it in a circle at the same time. ”

“ One knows how the cells of bees are formed by pressure, and how by pressure elastic spheres may be converted into angular, such as hexagonal-shaped, bodies.
As remarked, the gravitation theory (and many independent facts) demand that the molecules of bodies shall possess an open structure; which also satisfies the conditions of lightness and economy of material. As crystals exist, it is sometimes supposed that the molecules of bodies (whose open structure is often illustrated by cubes and other figures formed of wire) themselves represent the shapes of the crystals. ”

“ As regards the behaviour of these streams of atoms towards gross matter, Le Sage assumes the following. Gross matter is chiefly freely penetrated by the streams of atoms, only a small part of their energy is absorbed by gross matter, which implies a continuous annihilation of energy. Whence it arises that every portion of gross matter opposes a certain shelter to every other neighbouring portion from the encounters of the streams of atoms; and from this the apparent attraction of the gross matter according to the Newtonian law of gravity is easily explained. ”